nurse practitioner

nurse practitioner (NP), nonphysician clinician who is a nurse with a graduate degree in advanced-practice nursing. The primary function of nurse practitioners is to promote wellness through patient health education. Their role includes taking patients’ comprehensive health histories, performing physical examinations, ordering laboratory tests and procedures, and formulating and managing care regimens for acutely and chronically ill patients. Nurse practitioners work in a variety of settings, including physician offices, clinics, hospitals, and nursing home facilities.

History

The nurse practitioner movement began in the United States in the mid-1960s, with the preparation of pediatric nurse practitioners at the University of Colorado. Initially, the profession was developed in response to a shortage of physicians, especially in rural areas where healthcare access was limited. Over time, states other than Colorado began nurse practitioner training programs, and the role of NPs in healthcare greatly expanded. Today, nurse practitioners are integral to all kinds of practices, including those located in underserved, rural, and inner-city areas and in private collaborations, independent practices, hospitals, and continuing care and nursing home facilities. By 2012, there were nearly 160,000 nurse practitioners in the United States. Additionally, other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have embraced nurse practitioners.

Clinical roles, preparation, and practice standards

The most significant clinical role of nurse practitioners relates to their professional efficacy and autonomy in practice. They can diagnose, treat, prescribe medications (though their role in this capacity is limited in some U.S. states), order diagnostic testing, and refer patients to other healthcare professionals. Nurse practitioners engage in evidence-based practice and bring the framework of prevention, early intervention, and patient-family health education into their work. In the United States and other countries, nurse practitioners have a specific license for practice. In the United States, most such licenses are granted and supervised by a state’s board of nursing. This licensing distinguishes nurse practitioners from physicians’ assistants, who typically practice under direct supervision of physicians and whose practices are authorized by a state’s board of medicine.

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Nursing: Nurse practitioners

While some nurse practitioners can and often do work independently, most have collaborating physicians who review cases and provide ongoing consultation. The nursing board in a particular state may or may not require the existence of a relationship with a physician colleague. The teamwork nature of such collaboration often is visible in primary-care practices or hospital specialty services, where physicians and nurse practitioners work in the same setting. Arguably, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes in these collaborative practices are similar to or better than in many traditional, physician-only practices.

Nurse practitioners are prepared at the master’s level or beyond. The educational programs are designed to make the graduate eligible for certification as a nurse practitioner in a specific area, such as care of families, children, or adults, in psychiatry, or in women’s health. Certification is gained by completing the requisite educational program and passing an examination offered by specific certifying bodies. These entities are generally associated with a specific practice, such as midwifery. A significant educational requirement is actual practice under the close supervision of a licensed and certified nurse practitioner or a physician. Four hundred or more hours of such practice are required. Some specialties require additional training, such as working with a minimum number of mothers in childbirth to qualify in midwifery.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) defines the standards of practice for nurse practitioners and updates or revises them periodically. These standards reflect an origin in the general practice of nursing. Nurse practitioners do not replace nurses in practice settings. Rather, nurses and nurse practitioners provide a broadened skill mix from which to serve patients.

Doctorate in nursing practice and the future of nurse practitioners

From the comprehensive nature of these standards, nursing educators realized that the depth and extent of preparation warranted redefining the earned education credential as a practice doctorate similar to that given in other professions, such as pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry.

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In 2014 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) approved a policy statement saying that the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree be required for entry into nursing practice as an advanced practice nurse by 2015. In 2006, the AACN had outlined the eight essential elements of doctoral education for advanced practice nurses. These elements include (1) the scientific underpinnings for practice, (2) organizational and systems leadership for quality improvement and systems thinking, (3) clinical scholarship and analytical methods for evidence-based practice, (4) information systems/technology and patient care technology for the improvement and transformation of healthcare, (5) healthcare policy for advocacy in healthcare, (6) interprofessional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes, (7) clinical prevention and population health for improving the nation’s health, (8) and advanced nursing practice.

Disadvantages of the requirement of the DNP degree may include the increased costs to the students due to longer programs of study. In the first decades of the 21st century in the United States, there was a nationwide shortage of faculty in nursing schools. There was a concern that, initially, the costs of educating DNP degree students by a PhD-credentialed faculty might prove challenging; however, it was believed that the growing numbers of DNP graduates would quickly offset this shortage. Finally, some observers worried that the costs to the U.S. healthcare system might be increased by DNPs who command higher salaries than nurse practitioners under the old system. Proponents of the DNP strictures countered, however, that the additional preparation required of DNPs would bring additional clinical leadership and skills to ensure that the latest scientific findings were readily translated into patient services.

While licensed independently, nurse practitioners were slow to gain the legal authority to bill separately from physicians. Prior to the passage of the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which contained a relevant provision, nurse practitioners had to file under a physician’s Medicare provider number. Some private insurance companies, however, did not follow the change in Medicare regulations and prevented nurse practitioners from seeking payment under their own provider number. Variations also existed among state Medicaid programs.

Many areas of the United States have expanded the role of nurse practitioners. As of 2006, all 50 states had awarded nurse practitioners prescription authority, with varying limitations. Many states also included controlled substances among the medications nurse practitioners can prescribe.

Because they possess independent licenses, nurse practitioners have been viewed as a challenge to healthcare quality by some groups, most notably the American Medical Association (AMA). The AMA expressed concern that nurse practitioners do not have the same preparation as physicians and should, therefore, be closely supervised. Some state legislatures, where efforts to shape nurse practitioner practices are revisited often, have reflected this tension. An area of typical concern has been the authority of nurse practitioners to prescribe medications. While all states have authorized them to write prescriptions, this authority was approved on a state-by-state basis.