Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of An Advanced Practice Provider (App) And Its Relation To Physician Shortages And Rural Healthcare Survival: A State-By-State Analysis, Allen Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The extent that Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) are able to practice independently with a full scope of practice varies state-by-state. The purpose of this paper was to review how APPs could help in a number of different areas of healthcare. This analysis examines the state of rural healthcare and reviews physician shortage statistics and hospital closures by state. In the examination, it also evaluates which states have full scope, reduced scope, and restricted scope of practice laws and cross-references that with states that have experienced a hospital closure. Through case studies, this research finds that APPs can be an alternative …

Improving Analgesia Administration For Pediatric Patients In A Rural Emergency Department, Alvin R. Walters

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

When a child is in pain, parents often seek out treatment at an emergency department. After a detailed chart review it was determined that only 32.53% of the pediatric patients who present to a rural, northern California, ED in pain receive any documented form of analgesia during their time in the ED. A review of the literature revealed that triage nurse-initiated protocols can successfully manage to provide consistent and efficient analgesia to patients who present to an ED with pain. Therefore, a practice improvement project was undertaken to increase of the consistency and efficiency of analgesia administration for pediatric patients …

Changing Health Care Policy By Utilizing Kingdon's Policy Stream Theory, Brittney Welch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy process of changing current regulations regarding rural health clinics (RHCs). Using Kingdon’s Policy Stream Theory for guidance, the change project was designed to amend current regulations regarding the directorship of the RHCs, consequently allowing Nurse Practitioners (NP) to act as medical directors for rural health clinics (RHCs). This change fulfills the Institute of Medicine’s charge to have nurses work to the highest level of their education, as well as a defined need to fill a gap in the health care system by decreasing rural health disparities. The Rural Health Care …

The Effect Of A School-Based Health Center On Access To Care In A Rural Community, Macey Cornwell

DNP Projects

BACKGROUND: Lack of access to healthcare is a nationwide issue that affects underserved, minority, and rural populations. School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) is one way to help increase access to care for students, staff, and family members.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to provide preliminary data on the impact of a SBHC in a rural Kentucky community on access to care and school attendance.

METHODS: A univariate descriptive analysis was conducted to evaluate the perceived impact of the SBHC on access to care and demographic factors. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, two-sample t-tests, and The Wilcoxon …