The effectiveness of a rural nursing center in improving health care access in a three-county area

The purpose of this article is to describe an innovative nurse-managed heal th center that has been effective in improving access to primary health car e for residents of a Midwestern three-county rural area. Penchansky and Tho mas's (1981) framework evaluating health care access was used to analyze cl ient satisfaction and utilization data. Findings clearly indicate success i n improving access. Client satisfaction surveys consistently show a high le vel of satisfaction across all framework dimensions, including overall sati sfaction with the health cave received. Utilization data indicate a steady increase in the number of clients served, especially those who ave uninsure d or underinsured. This article demonstrates that key dimensions of access can be effectively measured using the Penchansky and Thomas framework and c oncludes with recommendations for enhancing the model.