Koffi, Afi
(2024)
Addressing the Rural Primary Care Physician Shortage:
A Focused Review of Policy Interventions and Their Implications.
Master Essay, University of Pittsburgh.
Abstract
The primary care physician (PCP shortage in the United States presents a critical public health concern with far-reaching implications for healthcare access and general population well-being. This is underscored by a PCP distribution problem as rural communities face the worst of the shortage. The PCP shortage is shown to be an immediate public health crisis by examining its effects on healthcare delivery, access, and outcomes, particularly in rural and underprivileged populations. A search of the Ovid Medline database yielded several studies that can be utilized to target the PCP shortage. Policy interventions extrapolated from the review of available literature include changing medical school selection processes, expanding and furthering recruitment to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), mandating the incorporation of rural health exposure during medical school, and widening the scope of practice and lessening restrictions for physician assistants (PAs) and Nure Practitioners (NPs). The IOM developed the Six Aims of Improvement framework to measure healthcare quality, but it is used in this paper to address the feasibility and potential for success in addressing the PCP shortage in rural areas. These interventions are analyzed using the Six Aims of Improvement framework, focusing on their potential to provide safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable healthcare services by increasing the number of primary care providers. This analysis yielded several strong options, but ultimately, while several of the approaches have shown promise in solving the PCP shortage, for a more immediate impact on patient care, priority should be given to increasing the utilization of already available healthcare resources, such as PAs and NPs.
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Details
| Item Type: |
Other Thesis, Dissertation, or Long Paper
(Master Essay)
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Contributors Name | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Drake, Coleman | cdrake@pitt.edu | cdrake | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Dauria, Emily F. | efd16@pitt.edu | efd16 | UNSPECIFIED |
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| Date: |
14 May 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Number of Pages: |
31 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Public Health > Health Policy & Management |
| Degree: |
MPH - Master of Public Health |
| Thesis Type: |
Master Essay |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Date Deposited: |
14 May 2024 19:37 |
| Last Modified: |
14 May 2024 19:37 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46138 |
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