Collaborating With Rural Practice Partners to Provide a Primary Care Experience for Prelicensure Nursing Students.

Mennenga, Heidi A; Brown, Robin J; Horsley, T Leann; Abuatiq, Alham A; Plemmons, Christina

BACKGROUND Prelicensure nursing education has generally emphasized acute care; however, as primary care changes in the United States, academia must transform. The national call for transforming primary care requires innovation in the education of prelicensure nursing students. PROBLEM To ensure future RNs can function in the primary care setting and assume enhanced roles within the interprofessional team, prelicensure nursing students need to be exposed to primary care. A key barrier to providing this essential education is the lack of partnerships with primary care facilities. APPROACH The purpose of this project was to collaborate with rural practice partners to provide a primary care clinical experience for prelicensure nursing students. OUTCOMES Collaboration between academic-practice partners to develop a clinical experience for prelicensure nursing students allowed exposure to the role of RNs in rural primary care. CONCLUSIONS By sharing the process for planning the clinical experience, other interested academic institutions may replicate similar opportunities.