Nurse Managed Center: Access to Primary Health Care for Urban Native Americans

Abstract

Urban Native Americans represent a small, diverse minority with unique health needs. The purposes of this descriptive retrospective study were to describe (a) the characteristics and primary health problems of urban Native Americans who receive primary health care at an urban nurse managed center (NMC) and (b) the nursing interventions provided at an urban NMC to urban Native Americans. A sample of 334 participant's patient data were abstracted from a computerized clinical data set and coded based on the Omaha Classification System. The majority were over 40 years of age, were female, were single, completed high school, and were poor and uninsured, and many were unemployed. The most frequent health problems were related to pain, cardiovascular symptoms, dentition problems, and respiratory illnesses. The most frequent nursing interventions were for surveillance of physical signs and symptoms. The NMC was an accessible source of primary health care for urban Native Americans in northeastern Ohio.