Health care delivery to farmworkers in the Southwest: an innovative nursing clinic.

The migrant and seasonal farmworkers of the United States constitute a medically underserved population with many health care needs. Barriers to health care among farmworker families include financial constraints, cultural factors, restrictive labor practices, and absence of accessible clinics in rural areas. The Migrant Health Outreach Program is a federally funded mobile nursing clinic created to deliver health care to farmworkers where they live and work. The Migrant Health Outreach Team, composed of family nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and health care workers, offers primary care including health care maintenance and treatment of acute and chronic illness. The mobile nursing clinic serves the target population of farmworkers as a successful alternative to a traditional medical clinic.