Positive Partnerships: Rural Communities and the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner

As demographics in North Carolina change, so do health care needs for the state's citizens. To honestly appraise the nursing leadership pipeline for the future, careful consideration of the primary care nurse practitioner role is in order. However, hindrances to full implementation of the adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner and the family nurse practitioner include barriers in academia, lack of available community preceptors, and ramifications of current state regulatory supervision requirements. Positive partnerships between local students who are mentored to "bloom where [they] are planted" have potential to impact long-term health outcomes of communities by increasing access to primary care.