Qualitative interview analysis reveals primary workforce barriers among rural nurses and clinicians, suggesting pathways to mitigate primary care provider shortages.
Key Points
Practicing rural registered nurses face distinct financial and isolation barriers, categorized across four thematic areas impacting local primary care delivery.
Semi-structured interviews across twenty rural registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and critical access hospital administrators provided qualitative evaluation.
Addressing identified financial barriers and professional challenges may improve recruitment into nurse practitioner roles, expanding rural primary care capacity.