A partnership between the Monroe (Wis.) Clinic-SSM Health and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing has been helping to address the state's rural healthcare shortage.
Since students earning a doctorate of nursing practice require several field placements, the Wisconsin nursing school has been sending them to rural Monroe clinics, where a positive experience may influence students' later choice of employment. Monroe Clinic has 11 clinics in southwestern Wisconsin and nearby Illinois. In the four years since the partnership between Monroe and the university began, three DNP students have returned to work as NPs at Monroe.
Independence is one of the factors drawing students to return, since nurse practitioners can often practice more independently in rural areas with provider shortages. Students also say they are drawn to the small communities and the surprising challenges facing rural areas. Rural clinics are often more complex than students expect, according to Pamela Ann McGranahan, DNP, RN, director of the DNP program and associate clinical professor of nursing.
"People may think the scope is small, and that they won't see much high-acuity stuff, but people get hurt, sick, have a heart attack or stroke, and hit by cars everywhere. And then there are farm accidents," said Dr. McGranahan.