New Research and Commentaries on Health Equity in Primary Care Health Professional Education and Training by Rural PREP and Our Collaborators
Rural PREP* is pleased to announce publication of our work in a special issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved focused on health equity in the education and training of primary care health professionals. This issue is sponsored by the six Academic Units for Primary Care Training and Enhancement (AU-PCTE) funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
These six articles report on Rural PREP research findings and initiatives to strengthen pathways for recruitment, retention, and education of rural primary care health professionals.
- An Organic Approach to Health Professions Education and Health Equity: Learning in and with Underserved Communities (Longenecker RL)
This commentary addresses an organic approach that Rural PREP has taken over the past five years to promote health equity through education and training of a workforce in and with rural and underserved urban communities. - Challenges and Best Practices for Implementing Rurally Targeted Admissions in U.S. Medical Schools (Schmitz DF, Evans DV, Andrilla CHA, Jopson AD, Longenecker RL, Patterson DG)
This mixed-methods analysis, one of two articles from our study, “Targeted Medical School Admissions: A Strategic Process for Meeting Our Social Mission,” examined admissions strategies to recruit and select medical students likely to practice rurally as a first step in identifying best practices for addressing rural workforce gaps. - Factors That Encourage and Support Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to Work in Rural and Safety-Net Settings (Kaplan L, Pollack SW, Skillman S, Patterson DG)
This scoping review, one of two articles from our study, “Routes to Rural Readiness: Enhancing Clinical Training Experiences for Nurse Practitioner Practice in Rural Primary Care,” sought to identify effective strategies and research gaps specific to recruiting and retaining advanced practice registered nurses in rural and safety-net settings. - Promoting Health Careers Among Rural K–16 Students: A Mixed-Method Study to Describe Pathway Programs (Jopson AD, Pollack SW, Schmitz DF, Thompson MJ, Harris D, Bateman M, Evans DV, Patterson DG)
This mixed-methods study provides a baseline description of health career pathway programs for rural K–16 students through a scoping review, survey, and semi-structured interviews with program directors. - Microresearch: Promoting Scholarly Activity That Addresses Health Disparities in Rural Health Professional Education Programs (Glenn LE, Simon L, Smith VS, Longenecker RL, Schmitz D, Patterson DG)
This report describes microresearch, an innovative, mentored research experience for health professions students and residents, originally developed in Africa and adapted for U.S. health professional trainees preparing for rural primary care practice. - A Design and Dissemination Studio: Building a Scholarly Community of Practice in Rural Health Professions Education and Training (Longenecker RL, Schmitz D, Pollack SW, Patterson DG)
This report describes Rural PREP’s process for engaging community of practice members in improving research on rural health professions education and training.
Rural PREP also contributed to these three articles that address initiatives to advance health equity in health professions education and training more broadly:
- Leveraging Collective Impact to Promote Health Equity (Ackerman-Barger K, Sandvold I, Patterson DG, Brown KY, Douglas-Kersellius NV)
This paper describes how the HRSA-funded AU-PCTE used the Collective Impact Model to promote health equity. - A Framework for Transforming Primary Care Health Care Professions Education and Training to Promote Health Equity (Doubeni CA, Fancher TL, Juarez P, Riedy C, Persell SD, Sandvold I, Schmitz DF, Sochalski J)
This paper proposes a framework with domains of policies and incentives, enabling institutional climate, educational content and integration, and community-orientation and community engagement to advance health equity in primary care health professional education. - Who, What, and Where: Transforming Primary Care Education to Advance Health Equity (Ravenna PA, Bream KDW, Fancher T, Juarez P, Klusaritz HA, Matthews-Juarez P, Persell SD, Phillips RS, Riedy C, Patterson DG)
This article provides recommendations from the Academic Unit grantees on ways primary care health professions education can be transformed to advance health equity.
We hope you’ll find this issue compelling, including the articles by our peer AU-PCTE centers focusing on oral health, behavioral health, social determinants of health, vulnerable populations, and workforce diversity in primary care. We welcome your feedback!