Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies, Montana State University College of Nursing, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
Department of Economics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
J Rural Health. 2023 Jan;39(1):240-245. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12707. Epub 2022 Aug 15.
Rural registered nurses (RNs) play an integral role in providing care for an underserved population with worse health outcomes than urban counterparts. However, little information is available on the profile of this workforce, which is necessary to understand the capacity of these nurses to provide quality and demanded care presently and in the future.
We utilize data from the American Community Survey to provide a contemporary analysis on the supply of rural RNs in the United States.
While the number of physicians serving rural populations has decreased in recent years, and rural nurse practitioners (NPs) remain in short supply, rural RNs have steadily grown in numbers at a rate comparable to urban RNs. Rural RNs are markedly less diverse than the populations they serve and only half of rural RNs had a bachelor's degree or higher compared to over 70% for urban RNs. In their supply, young rural nurses appear on pace with urban nurses to adequately replace older nurses and continue to grow the workforce, based on data through 2019.
The rural RN workforce is projected to steadily grow amidst declining rural physicians and limited rural NPs. The burgeoning investments in the rural health workforce present opportunities to help diversify, increase educational access, and further rural readiness for rural RNs moving forward.
农村注册护士（RN）在为服务不足的人群提供护理方面发挥着重要作用，这些人群的健康状况比城市同行差。然而，关于这一劳动力队伍的情况，我们知之甚少，而了解这些护士目前和未来提供优质和所需护理的能力，这一点是必要的。
我们利用美国社区调查的数据，对美国农村 RN 的供应情况进行了当代分析。
近年来，服务于农村人口的医生数量有所减少，农村执业护士（NP）仍然短缺，而农村 RN 的数量却稳步增长，增长率与城市 RN 相当。农村 RN 的多样性明显低于他们所服务的人群，而且只有一半的农村 RN 拥有学士学位或更高学历，而城市 RN 的这一比例超过 70%。根据截至 2019 年的数据，在供应方面，年轻的农村护士似乎与城市护士一样，有望接替老年护士，并继续壮大劳动力队伍。
预计在农村医生减少和农村 NP 有限的情况下，农村 RN 劳动力队伍将稳步增长。对农村卫生劳动力的大量投资为农村 RN 多样化、增加教育机会以及进一步提高农村准备程度提供了机会。
