Clients Served and Services Provided by Academic Nurse-Managed Centers

Currently, no national database for academic nurse-managed centers (ANMCs) exists. These primary care services remain somewhat invisible in the policy and reimbursement areas of the American primary care system and, consequently, are undersupported. The purpose of this article is to describe client and service data from a national study of ANMCs. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from ANMC directors. Usable data were received from 64 centers. ANMCs in the sample were relatively small in terms of patients and volume. Client and service profiles demonstrated variation, which seemed to be reflective of needs relative to populations and communities served. Nearly half of the ANMCs responding served clients of all ages, with services representing the breadth of primary care (i.e., health maintenance and management of minor acute and common chronic illnesses). Evidence of community-focused care was also noted. The reported use of standardized nursing language was low. Standardized medical taxonomies were more commonly used, with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision being the most common. ANMCs provide a small but substantial amount of primary care services in communities served. Findings indicated a need for ANMCs to improve the documentation of their contributions through the use of standardized taxonomies to provide aggregated reporting for policy and research purposes.     

Enhancing life after cancer in diverse communities

BACKGROUND:

Although large numbers of cancer survivors exist in every community, including minority communities, there is a significant gap in knowledge about best practices for these patients.

METHODS:

The Community Networks Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, has developed and tested unique services for these communities. These programs have used community‐based participatory research techniques under a framework of diffusion of innovation and communications theory.

RESULTS:

This article describes some specifically tailored interventions that may be useful to a wide range of providers working with the underserved.

CONCLUSIONS:

Enhancing life after cancer can be achieved in underserved communities by supplementing local resources. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society.