Date Created

12-2026

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Nursing, Nursing Student Work

First Advisor

Natalie Pool

First Committee Member

Carolyn Bottone-Post

Second Committee Member

Daniel Edmondson

Third Committee Member

Dannon Cox

Abstract

Primary care in the United States continues to face a critical provider shortage. This shortage is especially elevated in the rural regions of the country and is exacerbated by longstanding issues with subpar onboarding and high turnover rates. Failure to retain advanced practice providers in rural primary care settings further diminishes patient access to services, negatively impacts continuity of care, and complicates efforts to maintain patient trust in the nation’s delicate healthcare system.

Improved provider orientation and support processes within rural healthcare systems have the potential to increase satisfaction rates and productivity. The purpose of this DNP scholarly project was to utilize the current literature and input from advanced practice providers at a rural primary care health center to create a comprehensive, standardized, and improved onboarding process. The following project question guided this study:

Q1 How will a synthesis of the literature and input from advanced practice providers contribute to the development of an improved and standardized onboarding process designed for a rural primary care health center?

Guided by the theory of planned change, synthesized data from three participants resulted in a proposed process improvement for the project site that has the potential to be adapted to other rural health primary care clinics.

Abstract Format

html

Keywords

rural health; advanced practice providers; primary care; retention; onboarding; orientation

Subject Categories

Family Practice Nursing

Language

English

Extent

93 pages

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

Digital Origin

Born digital

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