Rural areas in the U.S. have fewer nurses per capita than urban areas, and those nurses are more likely to have associate’s rather than bachelor’s degrees according to a recent study from the Rural and Minority Health Research Center at the University of South Carolina. Rural nurses, however, often have a broader range of duties and responsibilities because of the lack of specializing nurses. Given the Institute of Medicine’s goal to raise the proportion of registered nurses (RNs) with bachelor’s-level degrees to 80% by 2020, research is needed to examine the educational attainment of RNs across the U.S. and explore registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in nursing (RN-to-BSN) program activities to attract, train and place nurse trainees in rural communities. Listen to a podcast interview with research leader Jan Probst, PhD.
