North Carolina, as a state with a significant Black population and fast-growing Hispanic population, is greatly reflective of national demographic changes. Due to these demographic changes, the US is currently facing challenges to recruit and retain a general surgery workforce that mirrors the population. This article examines the slow and gradual diversification of the surgical…
Integrated care has become increasingly common in recent years and has helped provide patients with care for a wide variety of health needs. These integrated approaches tend to be more complex and require new ways of collecting data to measure their effectiveness. Electronic health records (EHR) present a potential solution. This article describes the development…
The COVID-19 pandemic created a rapid change in care environments without sufficient training or support for most. For the healthcare system to be able to properly respond to the pandemic, as well as future public health challenges, there is a need for greater access to guidelines, training tools, and other support for patient care. This…
Little is known about the job satisfaction of licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) participating in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) federal Loan Repayment Program (LRP). Employee satisfaction in organizations is important for organizational well-being and to decrease turnover. This article examines the work and practice satisfaction of LCSWs participating in the NHSC LRP. Findings…
Preventive medicine physicians work at the intersection of clinical medicine and public health. Previous reports on the state of the preventive medicine workforce revealed an ongoing decline in preventive medicine physicians and residents, but there have been few updates in recent years. This article describes trends in both the number of board-certified preventive medicine physicians…
Clinical setting and geographic location effects access to surgical services and potentially the quality of care. Through examining the distribution of general surgeons across billing entities and within hospital referral regions (HRRs), a trend towards practice in larger medical organizations from traditional hospital settings is emerging. This article reviews how population changes over time in…
As the US population ages and the demand for long-term care increases, an insufficient number of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) is expected in the nursing workforce. Understanding the characteristics of LPN participation in the workforce is essential to address this challenge. This article compares and contrasts 2 LPN career patterns for a better understanding of…
Despite recent research on wellbeing in medicine, much of it fails to address the broader structural factors that contribute to physician satisfaction and wellbeing. To address that gap, researchers used a novel socio-ecological framework adapted from a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s “systems model,” and conducted interviews with 65 attendings, residents, medical students,…
There are large variations in the level of agreement among areas that are identified as “rural” under various rurality definitions. Rural-urban disparities are sensitive to the specific definition and which population characteristic that is being considered. This article explores 8 federal rural definitions and the degree to which they identify the same areas as rural….
The COVID-19 pandemic has had harsh impacts on low-income and racial and ethnic minority communities, as well as the clinicians who provide care to these communities. This article examines the results of a survey of safety-net health care practitioners (including physical, dental, and behavioral health providers) participating in the National Health Service Corps in 20…
