Are Nurse Practitioners Working in Rural / Northern Communities?

In 1999, the graduates of the Ontario nurse practitioner (NP) education program were surveyed and 53% of the 152 respondents reported having worked as NPs since graduation, but only 45% were working as NPs at the time they were surveyed. The graduates gave two main reasons for not working as NPs. These were lack of jobs and lack of funding models that would allow for the creation of NP positions or remuneration for their services. Two-thirds had a full time position and 64% reported they were paid a salary.

Most practised in southern Ontario and more than half of them were in the central regions of the province. Only 16% practised in northern Ontario and most of these were in the northeastern region of the province. One-third reported that they worked in communities designated as "underserviced" by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Over two-thirds worked in an urban area.

The respondents identified 15 settings in which they practised. The majority (56%) practised in community health centres. The second and third most common practice settings were aboriginal access health centres (10%) and physicians' offices/family practice units (10%), respectively. Other settings included: hospital inpatient units, hospital ambulatory care units, specialty clinics, outpost nursing stations and long-term care facilities. The majority reported that they worked with clients of all age groups. Many described their clients as the disadvantaged, such as low-income earners, recent immigrants, social assistance recipients and aboriginals. For the majority, their focus of practice involved a combination of health promotion, disease prevention, treatment of minor illnesses and health maintenance.

From: S. Caty, I. Michel, D. Stewart, and R.W. Pong (2000). Nurse practitioner graduates: Where are they now? The Registered Nurse 11(2):6-8.

S. Caty, I. Michel, D. Stewart, and R.W. Pong (2000). Employment profile of the 1996-1999 cohorts of graduates of the nurse practitioner education program: A summary report. Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON. (CRaNHR Working Paper Series)