Characteristics of risk in patients of nurse practitioner safety net practices.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to describe the characteristics of vulnerability in patients at safety net practices where nurse practitioners (NPs) provide the majority of the health care and to discuss the implications regarding patient data collection for all NPs who provide safety net care.


METHODS
Data were collected from patients at four safety net practices: a rural health clinic, a rural nurse-managed health clinic, an urban nurse-managed health clinic, and an urban Indian health clinic.


CONCLUSIONS
The users of these practices reflected a significant degree of risk for poor health outcomes based on characteristics of risk identified in the literature. Patients seen in nurse-managed health clinics without federal subsidies had more risk that those in federally supported clinics.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the increasing evidence of the impact of social and environment factors on poor health outcomes, the importance of assessing and describing the characteristics of risk is discussed. These data are essential for supporting the value of these NP-provided safety net services to healthcare insurers and federal health policy makers.
Fiandt
Kathryn
K
School of Nursing, University of Texas Medical Branch, Center for Nursing Practice Development, Galveston, Texas 77555-1132, USA. klfiandt@utmb.edu
Doeschot
Christy
C
Lanning
Julie
J
Latzke
Lorrie
L
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009718:Nurse Administrators; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010147:Pain Measurement; D005791:Patient Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012449:Safety; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors