• Teresa J Seright and Charlene A Winters.
• Teresa J. Seright is Associate Dean for UG Programs in the College of Nursing, Montana State University. She has maintained critical care certification (CCRN) through direct patient care in the emergency/trauma center and catheterization laboratory at Trinity Health, Minot, North Dakota, and the emergency department and recovery room at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, Bozeman, Montana.Charlene A. Winters is a professor in the College of Nursing, Montana State University, focusing on issues related to rural health and rural health care practice. teresa.seright@montana.edu.
• Crit Care Nurse. 2015 Oct 1; 35 (5): 62-7.

AbstractWhat began as a grant-funded demonstration project, as a means of bridging the gap in rural health care, has developed into a critical access hospital system comprising 1328 facilities across 45 states. A critical access hospital is not just a safety net for health care in a rural community. Such hospitals may also provide specialized services such as same-day surgery, infusion therapy, and intensive care. For hospitals located near the required minimum of 35 miles from a tertiary care center, management of critically ill patients may be a matter of stabilization and transfer. Critical access hospitals in more rural areas are often much farther from tertiary care; some of these hospitals are situated within frontier areas of the United States. This article describes the development of critical access hospitals, provision of care and services, challenges to critical care in critical access hospitals, and suggestions to address gaps in research and collaborative care.©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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