Design: descriptive, non-experimental

Population, Sample, Setting, Years: the population studied was 17,228 NPs in the US Southern states. A random sample consisted of 25% of NPs in each southern state (12) during 2002.

Concepts: nurse practitioners, work conditions

Methods: surveys were mailed to 4,307 NPs. A total of 1794 surveys were returned for a response rate of 42%.

Findings: demographics of the NP respondents: female (93%), white (90%), black (5%), Hispanic (3%), master’s or higher education (86%), mean age (45), and mean years of practice (7). The most frequent employer: private practice (38%), hospital (18%), health departments (8%), and rural clinics (8%). The most frequent practice specialties: family (32%), women’s health (14%), pediatric (13%), and adult health (12%). More NPs reported working in urban (53%) than rural (47%) settings. Only 5% of the surveyed NPs were employed in a HPSA. In areas where Hispanics are the majority, the percentage of Hispanic NP’s was six times that found in the sample as a whole.

Implications: NP employment placement in rural settings is very successful in the Southern US. NPs were 2.5 times more concentrated in rural areas than urban areas compared to the general population. Employed NPs were not concentrated in HPSAs. Minority NPs tend not to be employed in counties with similar high minority populations except for Hispanic NPs who tend to practice in highly concentrated Hispanic areas.

Conclusion: NPs practicing in the Southern US have diverse work conditions, were well represented in rural settings but not HPSAs, and only Hispanic NPs tend to practice in their ethnical population.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004