Mobile health units (MHUs) in the United States have grown to over three thousand nationwide, increasing healthcare access and equity to underserved communities. While MHUs have demonstrated improved patient outcomes, there is a lack of literature on partnering with nursing colleges and their faculty. This presentation will share how a college of nursing and their office of faculty practice and partnerships in a large midwestern state university implemented a nurse-led mobile health unit to deliver reproductive healthcare to rural communities in central Illinois, incorporating advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) faculty and graduate nursing students.

This partnership between a college of nursing and its APRN faculty, graduate nursing students, and underserved patients offered a mutually beneficial opportunity for improved health equity and access to reproductive care. The challenge was creating an infrastructure for implementing an MHU, including staff, equipment, and resources to serve this community while establishing strategic partnerships to develop a sustainable pipeline of patients in rural communities. The outcomes included launching MHU operations within four months after the unit was built and creating a growing roster of community partners, including emergency/homeless shelters, community centers, public health agencies, a hospital laboratory, and a high school to increase access to rural areas in which there are limited options for reproductive care. The three outcomes of the proposed session would be to increase knowledge of the complexities of implementing an MHU, raise awareness of the challenges of developing alliances and partnerships in rural regions, and provide insights into experiential solutions for both.   

Learning Objectives: Increase knowledge of the complexities of impemeting an MHU Increase awareness of the challenges of developing alliances and partnerships Provide experiential solutions to both