Frontier areas: opportunities for NPs' primary care services

Demographers have recently designated frontier areas as distinct from other rural areas. Frontier counties are defined as those with less than six persons per square mile; as such, they constitute 45 percent of the U.S. land mass and include 2.2 million people. The health status among frontier residents is estimated to be lower than that of other rural or urban populations, and frontier health services, particularly primary care services, are scant. In this article, opportunities for nurse practitioners in frontier practice are explored, including specific suggestions for the development of new frontier NP practices.