According to the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, 27% of South Carolinians live in rural areas. When it comes to access and affordability of healthcare in these areas, experts say needed services and resources are often hard to come by.
The University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing is looking to expand mental health care in the state’s rural communities. Dr. Alicia Ribar, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Accreditation and Professor, explains how a $2.6 million, four-year training grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration will help make change possible.
The training program will support advanced practice registered nurses; educating 100 family nurse practitioners and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. Dr. Ribar said aspiring APRNs will engage in rotations at practice partner sites, affording them invaluable exposure to diverse clinical settings where the demand for health care providers is acute.
She adds recruiting from rural areas, is a major part of improving mental healthcare in rural areas.
“What the literature have shown us, is that students who come from rural and underserved areas; who then return to those areas and have experiences during training, are more like to stay and provide services in those areas, than students who never had experiences or who weren’t originally from those areas.”
Students will have at least 250 hours over an extended period of time where they will be immersed in those rural and underserved settings.
The first cohort will begin spring 2024. Dr. Ribar said the timeline for students completing the program will depend on the prior experience of each student.
