Rural Nurse, the Consummate Generalist

If you are reading this editorial, you most likely know or want to know about rural nursing.In nursing education, a generalist usually refers to someone who has a nursing undergraduate degree, since they need to be educated about and have some clinical experience in multiple areas.Nursing advanced education usually focuses on various specialty areas.A rural nurse needs excellent generalist skills and knowledge, and their practice is such that they need breadth and depth of knowledge in multiple areas.A good deal of nursing is similar in different practice settings and with various populations (Bushy, 2012).However, it has long been argued that rural populations and their health care needs have unique practice demands.Thus, there are unique aspects of rural nursing (Bushy, 1998; Crook, 2004; Long & Wienert, 1989).Scharff notes, "The nature and scope of rural nursing is distinctive" (2022, p. 87).My perspective has been informed by education, derived from practice in both rural and urban settings, as well as immersion in rural nursing literature.I see rural and urban nursing as a Venn diagram, although my ability to show this is limited.The intersection area is the discipline of nursing, where the knowledge needed is similar.