Missouri working to increase number of rural doctors; North Carolina gets grant to train rural nurses

Attempting to combat a shortage of health personnel in rural areas, Missouri and North Carolina are trying to fill the void through a program in one state to encourage more young doctors to choose to practice in rural areas and a program in the other state to advance the education of the state's nurses.

In Missouri, 37 percent of the state's residents live in rural areas, but only 18 percent of doctors practice in those areas, Grant Sloan reports for OzarksFirst. The University of Missouri is trying to help solve the problem through its Rural Summer Community Program that places medical students in rural areas. About 300 students have participated, or are currently enrolled, in the program, and about 50 percent of the students who participate in the program end up practicing in rural areas, "nearly 40 percent above the national average." (Read more)

Missouri lawmakers recently passed a bill allowing medical school graduates to bypass their residency to practice as an assistant physician—allowing them to treat patients and prescribe some medications—in underserved rural areas after spending 30 days working under the supervision of a a doctor. Gov. Jay Nixon's signed the bill into law earlier this month.

While Missouri is trying to increase its number of doctors, Western Carolina University received a grant for more than $1 million to train rural nurses to work in Western North Carolina. As part of the program, the state Department of Health and Human Services "will provide $350,000 annually over three years to create a program designed to increase the number of nurses with four-year degrees working in the mountains," Clarke Morrison reports for the Times-Citizen in Asheville.

"The project will support the development of nurses qualified as 'advanced rural generalists,'” Morrison writes. "It will focus on registered nurses with two-year degrees who are ethnic minorities or from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds who work at Mission Hospital or one of the system’s rural affiliate hospitals in the region. The programs provides scholarships, stipends and mentorship opportunities to help students obtain bachelor’s degrees."

Judy Neubrander, director of the WCU School of Nursing, said "research has found that medical services are more successful when providers reflect the communities they serve," Morrison writes. "Although the majority of nurses who work in rural health care facilities grew up in rural communities, many lack the advanced levels of education and training needed today, Neubrander said." (Read more)