Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41157830›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association2025

What drives advanced practice nurses to stay in rural America? Insights from the 2022 National Survey of Registered Nurses.

Esita Patel, Chris Gillette, Jan Ostermann, Chris Everett, Dawn Caviness, Sarah Garvick

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. What drives advanced practice nurses to stay in rural America? Insights from the 2022 National Survey of Registered Nurses.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Esita PatelCenter for Advanced Practice, Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8576-707X
Chris GilletteDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Jan OstermannDepartment of Health Services Policy & Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Chris EverettDivision of Physician Assistant Education and Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8623-1285
Dawn CavinessDepartment of Family Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency Program, Concord, North Carolina, USA.
Sarah GarvickDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1119-5141

Funding

AHCRA: Access to Health Care in Rural AppalachiaR21MD019127 · NIMHD · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI GILLETTE, CHRIS, OSTERMANN, JAN · 2023 to 2024
$446k
NIMHD NIH HHS R21 MD019127
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeRecruiting and retaining a robust rural health care workforce is critical to advancing health outcomes in rural communities. Although increasing the rural provider workforce has been a policy focus for decades, rural access continues to worsen. Using a strengths-based approach, we identify factors that influence the decisions of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to leave or stay in their jobs.

methodsSecondary analysis of data from the 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. We describe rates of turnover, retention, intention to leave, and reasons for leaving and staying by job rurality. We compare reasons by rurality using Pearson chi-squared tests with the Rao-Scott correction, applying survey weights to all analyses.

findingsOur sample included 18,804 APRNs, of which one-fifth (19.1%, n = 3,589) worked in rural areas. The rural APRN workforce was, on average, older, less racially diverse, more experienced, and had a lower household income compared to the nonrural APRN workforce. Those who remained in rural jobs were more likely to report length of commute (P =  .02), cost of living (P =  .02), commitment to underserved communities (P =  .001), and proximity to family (P<.001), compared to those who remained in urban jobs. Those who left nonrural jobs cited greater burnout (P =  .02), stressful work environment (P =  .05), career advancement (P =  .01), and being laid off/downsized (P =  .01) as reasons for leaving, compared to those who left rural jobs.

conclusionsWe identified unique factors, including proximity to family, commitment to underserved populations, and less burnout, that contribute to APRN retention in rural areas. Leveraging these motivators can inform more effective, tailored strategies to support the rural health care workforce.

Indexed as

Advanced Practice NursingNursesPersonnel TurnoverRural PopulationAdultFemaleHumansJob SatisfactionMaleMiddle AgedRural Health ServicesSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited StatesWorkforce

Identifiers

PMID41157830
PMCPMC12569397

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.