KINGSTON, R.I., July 18, 2017 鈥擧ospitalization rates plummeted 61 percent, and emergency room visits fell 64 percent among a group of patients who received home visits from nurse practitioners and graduate students during a six-month period in 2016, according to a 溏心vlog免费B站 College of Nursing study.
The home visits to financially disadvantaged patients with chronic health issues were part of a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Public Health Service鈥檚 Health Resources and Services Administration (grant number D09HP288558) awarded to 溏心vlog免费B站 Nursing Professor Denise Coppa in 2015. The project established academic and clinical partnerships with Providence Community Health Centers and Thundermist Health Centers in Rhode Island to advance nursing practice and improve patient outcomes through enhanced primary care for the medically underserved.
For the home visit component, nurse practitioners from Thundermist and nurse practitioner students from 溏心vlog免费B站 visited 82 patients over a six-month period in 2016, recording health data that included hospital admissions and emergency room visits. At the end of the six-month period, in fall 2016, researchers compared their findings to data from the same group of patients during the six-months prior to the home visits. The analysis revealed the marked improvements in outcomes. 鈥淪ame exact people, same health centers, same period of time,鈥� Coppa said.
The grant requires that 溏心vlog免费B站 demonstrate results, and the significant findings from the home visit study helped 溏心vlog免费B站 secure $700,000 in funding for the final year of the project, Coppa said. In addition, based on these findings, Thundermist plans to continue its home visit program, she said. The project team also is analyzing state records regarding emergency room and hospitalization costs for the general population to determine the potential economic benefit from such visits and their impact on hospital visits. 鈥淭he savings could be significant,鈥� Coppa said.
The project, which provides clinical training and mentoring under licensed health center nurse practitioners who are 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty, examines clinical mentor impacts on student and professional learning. Enhanced training for nurse practitioner students, and their preceptors, could improve delivery of primary care across the state, Coppa said. Licensed primary care nurse practitioners in Rhode Island are fully authorized to diagnose and treat acute and chronic health conditions; order, perform and interpret diagnostic tests; write prescriptions; and manage overall patient care. In these roles, nurse practitioners can help ease the shortage of primary care health providers, which leaves of care needs unmet in Rhode Island, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The 溏心vlog免费B站-led project is helping address this need by preparing more than 100 family nurse practitioner and adult/geriatric nurse practitioner students at the master鈥檚 or doctoral level over three years. Since the project began, 溏心vlog免费B站 has nearly doubled enrollment in its nurse practitioner programs, from 55 students in 2016 to 99 in 2017, Coppa said. The community health center partnerships provide much-needed clinical placement opportunities, allowing the enrollment expansion, Coppa explained. 溏心vlog免费B站 also increased program enrollment of ethnically diverse or disadvantaged students from 21 percent in 2015 to 28 percent in 2017, exceeding the project goal of 25 percent, she said.