As a heightened need for quality care increases across the U.S., more people are finding their calling to serve in the health care field. Frontier Nursing University programs are designed to produce compassionate, committed nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners whose roles in health care are more important now than ever before.
The Increasing Importance of Advanced Practice Nurses Today
Society is growing older, more obese, and a variety of risk factors are declining our health as a population.
Because of these factors, the need for nurses specialized in their fields is widening.
Once upon a time, nurses only cared for the sick and elderly. But today, many nurses are making the same complex clinical decisions for a variety of populations that would have been left to licensed physicians even 50 years ago.
One of the biggest concerns for healthcare providers today is the rising rate of maternal mortality. Unlike our first-world peers, maternal deaths in the U.S. rose 26.6% from 2000 to 2014 (source). This problem is exacerbated further in minority populations through lack of access to care and cultural barriers.
For example, 49% of all U.S. counties do not have an obstetrician/gynecologist (source). In these rural areas, nurse-midwives can help provide quality maternity care for mother and baby.
Mental health care is also a field that lacks numbers in the workforce. One in five adults in the U.S. have a mental health condition (source) and nationally, there is only one mental health provider for every 529 individuals (source). A psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner can provide affordable, accessible care to these populations.
Frontier Nursing University is working to close these gaps by training a diverse workforce of advanced practice nurses who will serve in rural and underserved communities.
Specialty Nurses Beginning to Fill Primary Care Needs
Nurses play several invaluable roles. Since they are responsible for a majority of the patient experience, nurses must be capable, caring, analytical and clinical, amongst many other things. The role of nurses has shifted dramatically to include several of the responsibilities of primary care doctors.
FNU’s advanced practice nursing specialty programs address the shortage of physicians by providing high-quality education to nurses who will fill the primary care roles in their communities as they serve in advanced practice roles.
Nurses specializing as a Certified Nurse-Midwife, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Family Nurse Practitioner or Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner through FNU’s online distance education programs are allowing more and more populations to receive primary care, resulting in improved health outcomes across the country.
How Nurses Benefit Society as a Whole
Nurses have become integral components of society today.
Recently, nurses have begun to evaluate the health of communities as a whole. Nurses’ contributions will help policy-makers understand how illnesses fit into national disease trends, and create legislation to improve health outcomes.
Nurses have also been charged with addressing the growing cost of health care and figuring out how to reduce it. Advanced practice nurses can treat patients before they need a hospital visit. In the case of maternity care, one 2015 study found that nurse-midwife attended deliveries had lower costs and better outcomes than those attended by family physicians and obstetricians (source). The nurse-midwife attended births also had the highest rate of avoidance of transfer to NICU at over 94% (source).
Thanks to new technology, patients can also consult with nurses from their own homes. The nurses can offer lifestyle advice and even prescribe treatment options. This new system is set to drastically change the way in which healthcare is delivered.
There is a strong calling for nurses to specialize in a field in order to give higher-quality care to specific populations. These advanced practice nurses will improve health outcomes for individuals and create better care models for whole communities.
Nurses are changing the landscape of the healthcare field as we know it. If you want to be part of that change, look into an online graduate nursing program at Frontier Nursing University today.
Sources:
- https://dailynurse.com/women-and-families-face-consequences-of-maternity-workforce-shortage/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4748366/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001799/pdf/nihms810951.pdf
- http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/2017-state-mental-health-america-access-care-data
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).