Nurse Practitioner Students Learning From the Medically Underserved: Impact on Attitude Toward Poverty

Abstract

With no antecedent in the literature, this project examined the effects of exposure to clients living in poverty on nurse practitioner (NP) students' attitude toward poverty. Students participating in adult health courses completed the Attitude Toward Poverty Scale at the start and end of the course. Eight students were immersed for a minimum of 32 hours with a faculty preceptor in a clinic caring for low-income, uninsured patients. These students also responded to open-ended questions regarding their experience. NP students had an increase in positive attitude toward impoverished patients after the course (p < 0.001). Themes that emerged from the immersion experience were (a) misconception, (b) lack of knowledge about cost and access to care, (c) importance of the clinical environment on learning to be an NP, and (d) empowerment. Planned clinical rotations with medically underserved populations may serve to dispel misconceptions about low-income patients.