Mobile Health Care for People Who Are Homeless

Individuals experiencing homelessness face significant challenges on a daily basis. The ongoing need to find shelter, safety, and food becomes a priority and often supersedes the need for health care. People who are homeless have significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates than those who are sheltered, at least in part because care is sought when health care issues become acute and more difficult to manage from a medical standpoint. Most acute care for this population is provided in the emergency department, which is more expensive and more fragmented than regular care provided by a primary provider. This article describes the planning, development, and implementation of a mobile health care clinic that provides acute care services to individuals who are homeless. As a nurse practitioner-physician collaborative endeavor, this project highlights the nursing role in meeting population needs as well as in establishing interprofessional collaborative teams.