A mobile clinic experience: nurse practitioners providing care to a rural population.
Lee, E J; O'Neal, S
Why this matters
Nurse practitioner-led mobile clinics were operating in rural areas decades before the current wave. A 1994 article describes a collaborative nurse practitioner model in rural South Carolina providing education, early detection, and referral for low-income residents.
Abstract
Improving access to health care for rural underserved populations is a growing concern. This article reviews the advantages of mobile clinics and describes a collaborative model for a nurse practitioner-operated mobile clinic that has provided cost education, early detection, and referral for low-income, rural populations. Examples of health care provided to a rural population in South Carolina are described. This approach to improving access to health care for underserved populations has implications for nursing practice in other rural areas.