Nurse Practitioner Advancement

859 Words4 Pages
Advancement of the Nurse Practitioner Role The role of the nurse practitioner has drastically changed over the years. An advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) is a nurse who has chosen to further her education and go on to a masters or doctorate program. The year 1967 was when the first female nurse practitioners program was established (Fontenot & Hawkins, 2011). Since then, various things have changed and are still changing to be able to maintain a great standard of care for all patients. To paraphrase Cowperthwaite (2014) the early struggles of nurse practitioners should serve as lessons for the modern day policy debates over the scope of practice. Here we will discuss the past, present and future of nurse practitioners. The History…show more content…
After the nurse anesthetists were recognized by legislature more began being recognized through credentialing and proper laws regulating practice, which included the requirement of supervision by physicians. Fontenot and Hawkins (2011) state, “Like other advanced practice nurses, women’s health nurse practitioners began to practice in a variety of healthcare settings, and after their roles were established, legislation regulating that practice and credentialing for the role evolved” (p. 315). After their initial nursing degree, the postgraduate education preparation for the new role of nurse practitioners consisted of certificate programs which lasted anywhere from several weeks or months, depending on the program, spent in a classroom. They then transitioned to laboratory learning, to then being placed under the direct supervision of a physician for approximately 8-12 months (Fontenot & Hawkins, 2011). Since this new advanced nursing role was unlike any other, many newly graduated students had an extremely difficult time finding a job as a nurse practitioner because there were not a lot of open positions. As stated by Fontenot and Hawkins (2011) many new graduates found that there was a lack of role models and mentors in the beginning years, many physicians didn’t understand what their role as a nurse…show more content…
Buppert (2014) states, “Now 19 states plus the District of Columbia allow nurse practitioners (NP) to practice without mandating that the NP have a physician collaborator” (p. 515). Even some unexpected developments have occurred with the use of nurse practitioners in convenient care clinics, also known as drug store clinics, and the expanded use of nurse practitioners in hospitals as hospitalists (Buppert, 2014). Fontenot and Hawkins (2011) believe that nurse practitioners today are a vital part of the healthcare system (p. 317). As Fund and Swanson-Hill (2014) said the training of a nurse practitioner is more patient centered, including care coordination and sensitivity to the impact a patient’s health has on a family and their cultural values. This makes nurse practitioner well prepared in providing quality and attentive primary care at a lower cost compared to a physician (p. 13). Currently, there are regulations and policy restrictions, which do not allow nurse practitioners to fulfill their full scope of practice. Buppert (2014) believes that if we are able to better utilize nurse practitioners in a primary care setting the cost of health care could be significantly reduced. By reimbursing nurse practitioners for their services at a lower cost compared to reimbursing a higher cost professionals for their services. According to Buppert (2014), “This change would allow NPs to practice independently and to the

More about Nurse Practitioner Advancement

Open Document