Using IPEC pedagogy to transform the future rural advanced practice nursing workforce

Kelly D Rosenberger,Valerie Gruss,Martin Macdowell,Heidi Olson

doi:10.5430/jnep.v11n10p1

Abstract

Objective: The number of primary care providers has not kept pace with the increasing number of underserved rural populations placing unprecedented demands on the healthcare system and the gap is expected to widen with shortages projected to increase across the United States. Given the urgent need to grow and expand the number of trained diverse primary care providers in rural communities, an innovative sustainable program was implemented to recruit and train diverse rural advanced practice nurses. Building on the successful rural medical and rural pharmacy educational programs at the UIC Health Sciences Campus in Rockford, a rural nursing program with interprofessional curriculum was designed and refined to enable nursing students along with two other professions to develop appreciation, insight, and knowledge of rural healthcare and health disparities in a variety of rural settings as part of an interprofessional team.Methods: A mixed-methods program evaluation approach utilized both quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate program satisfaction and inform ongoing program refinement.Results: Students indicated positive responses to this interprofessional course of study. Continued development and refinement of the curriculum is planned to train the future rural healthcare workforce.Conclusions: Students from three health sciences colleges benefitted from the IPEC program with confirmed satisfaction in interprofessional rural education and collaborative practice. The addition of a rural nursing program merits continuation with modification and expansion to prepare the future rural interprofessional healthcare workforce.

Highlights

The number of primary care providers has not kept pace with the growing number of underserved rural populations placing unprecedented demands on the healthcare system and the gap is expected to widen with shortages projected to increase across the USA by 2025.[1]. Simultaneously, underserved rural populations are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse while the rural healthcare workforce lacks
Healthcare providers who themselves come from of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) program has been maintained virtually using diverse rural backgrounds are more likely to practice in low Zoom meetings and breakout sessions during the COVID-19 resourced settings and individuals who receive care from pandemic when in-person classes and events were cancelled
Given the urgent need to increase and expand the number of Pharmacy (COP) were eligible to apply to the RNURSING, trained multidisciplinary primary care providers in rural com- rural medical (RMED) and rural pharmacy (RPHARM) programs, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The number of primary care providers has not kept pace with the growing number of underserved rural populations placing unprecedented demands on the healthcare system and the gap is expected to widen with shortages projected to increase across the USA by 2025.[1]. The didactic and was utilized with online quantitative surveys assessing the experiential curriculum prepare students to practice in and students’ program satisfaction and measuring if the objeccare for diverse rural populations.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion