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Rural Health Information Hub

Recruitment and Retention for Rural Health Facilities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Recruitment and Retention for Rural Health Facilities.

Confronting Workforce Shortages and Health Worker Well-Being
Six videos addressing the impact of healthcare worker shortages and how those shortages affect individual well-being and the ability to provide care in rural communities. Includes a keynote presentation by the Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Health Service. Transcripts available under the descriptions of the videos.
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Academy of Medicine
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Housing Shortages Are Making Recruitment and Retention Even More Challenging for Some Rural Healthcare Providers
Provides an overview of rural housing shortages and affordability concerns. Explains the impact of housing issues on the rural healthcare workforce. Features a housing development program involving a Critical Access Hospital in Colorado and an Oregon hotel conversion that combines units for healthcare workers and supportive housing.
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Identifying Strategies for Strengthening the Health Care Workforce in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Provides an overview of recent trends in the shortage of the nursing, primary care, and behavioral healthcare workforce in Virginia. Summarizes findings from an environmental scan and qualitative and quantitative data analysis regarding recruitment and retention strategies. Identifies interventions that could help the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (VHWDA) successfully address workforce shortages and which interventions should be prioritized based on desired policy outcomes. Presents a system dynamic model simulating the medium- to long-term supply and employment trends within Virginia's healthcare workforce under status quo conditions and under various policy interventions. Includes information on recruitment and retention in rural areas throughout.
Additional links: Annex, Research Brief: Recommendations for Strengthening the Health Care Workforce in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Author(s): Megan Andrew, Brian Briscombe, Raffaele Vardavas, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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Health is Primary: Charting a Path to Equity and Sustainability
Examines factors driving the downward trends in primary care, including fewer clinicians practicing primary care, fewer available appointments, lower spending on primary care, and fewer adults reporting that they have a usual source of primary care. Features a literature review, supply and demand analysis, and recommendations for potential solutions. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Slide Presentation
Author(s): Alison Huffstetler, Ann Greiner, Anam Siddiqi, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organizations: Primary Care Collaborative, Robert Graham Center
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Building a Rural Nursing Workforce With Fisher-Titus Medical Center
Podcast episode featuring a discussion with clinical leaders from Fisher-Titus Medical Center in rural Ohio. Discusses recruitment and retention strategies, including a concentrated effort on recruiting international nurses, to ensure patient care in the community.
Date: 08/2023
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Social Connections Drive Healthcare Professionals to Locate to and Stay in Rural Towns
Bar chart showing reasons that healthcare professionals choose to work in rural communities, with a comparison of factors that impact the decision to practice there and the decision to stay.
Date: 06/2023
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Healthcare Professionals Seek Social Connections When Moving to Rural Towns
Summarizes results of a 2014-2015 survey of 900 rural healthcare providers. Describes the factors that were most often cited by survey respondents as important to their decisions to practice and stay in a rural community.
Author(s): John Pender
Date: 05/2023
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Retaining A Rural Nursing Workforce: It Takes A Village
A podcast that discusses attracting and retaining nurses in rural areas. Focuses on the University of Vermont Health Network and how they addressed the nursing shortage, such as focusing on staff well-being, creating a positive work environment, and investing in higher pay for nurses.
Date: 05/2023
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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A Match Made in Rural: Interpreting Match Rates and Exploring Best Practices
Documents patterns in match rates for rural versus urban residency programs, compares rural residency match rates with program characteristics for match years 2009-2013, examines the association of match rates with program outcomes for graduates in years 2013-2015, and explores recruitment strategies using residency coordinator interviews.
Author(s): Randall Longenecker, Natalia V. Oster, Lars Peterson, et al.
Citation: Family Medicine, 55(7), 426-432
Date: 04/2023
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Linkages Between Rural Community Capitals and Healthcare Provision: A Survey of Small Rural Towns in Three U.S. Regions
Identifies community-level factors affecting the recruitment and retention of rural healthcare professionals through key informant interviews and a survey of healthcare professionals in 9 states across three regions: the Lower Mississippi Delta, the Southern Great Plains, and the Upper Midwest. Explores how the importance of these factors varies across regions and types of healthcare professionals and whether the importance of these factors differs between recruitment and retention.
Additional links: Report Summary
Author(s): John Pender, Maria Kuhns, Cindy Yu, Janice Larson, Shirley Huck
Date: 03/2023
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Last Updated: 12/26/2024