The United States is home to more nurses than any other type of healthcare professional. The growth experienced by the nursing profession, in general, has led to increased growth in the number of advanced practice registered nurses and highly trained nurse practitioners.
Nurse practitioners are required to have at least a master's degree in nursing, and they must be certified by a professional nursing organization. A nurse practitioner needs to be licensed to provide care that is consistent with their particular area of expertise and specialty that complies with specific state laws concerning the scope of nursing practice. Certain states allow nurse practitioners full practice authority, while others require them to be associated with a physician's practice and have a doctor sign off on certain patient care decisions.
Today, there are over 140,000 registered nurse practitioners in the US and they are having a steadily growing, positive impact on the healthcare system. Nurse practitioners tend to work in both private or public practices, workplaces, and schools and can function either independently or in collaboration with doctors. In the states that allow it, nurse practitioners are taking the lead in various newer forms of primary patient care delivery such as retail clinics in drugstores and nurse-managed health centers. We've listed some of the main ways that nurse practitioners are impacting the modern healthcare system today.
Providing Equal Quality Services to Doctors:
Analysis of literature and studies on the effectiveness of nurse practitioners in delivering patient care has long suggested that nurse practitioners provide an equal standard of care to that of doctors in terms of mortality and patient satisfaction. According to the Office of Technology Assessment, nurse practitioners provide care of equivalent quality to that provided by doctors within their areas of specialty and competence. This has had an increasingly positive impact on physicians with primary care practices who are looking to increase their patient numbers without the need to hire additional doctors.
Offsetting Lower Physician Numbers:
Today there are fewer medical students entering primary care, family practice, or general internal medicine, compared with the growing population of elderly and chronically ill people in the US. Primary care training programs for nurse practitioners, on the other hand, are increasing in popularity. As a result, this is helping to offset the shortages of primary care doctors in various regions across the country. In fact, there are some areas where nurse practitioner programs have become in such high demand that they struggle to make enough space for all the nurses who want to enroll.
Giving Physicians Greater Reach:
Not all nurse practitioners are able to operate independently from doctors; in certain states, they are required to by law. However, wherever a nurse practitioner is located, they can allow doctors to operate more efficient practices and take on more patients. As a result, it can lead to a better preventative of unnecessary emergency visits and make it easier for patients who are used to visiting a certain clinic or doctors' office to continue attending there as difficulties scheduling appointments will be reduced. In many cases, nurse practitioners can see patients sooner than physicians, which is appreciated by patients who know that the doctor is on hand if needed.
Expanding Retail Clinics:
Retail clinics have expanded massively in recent years, providing same-day urgent care and a range of further healthcare services to patients. There are currently more than six thousand retail clinics in the US located in popular retail stores such as Target, drugstores such as Walgreens, and in a range of supermarkets. They provide a convenient alternative for those who are traveling out of town, need quick advice, or are dealing with a health problem that does not warrant a doctor's appointment or a visit to the ER. Many of these retail services are operated by teams of nurse practitioners who are able to expand access to basic healthcare services to patients who may have struggled to access it otherwise.
Containing Costs:
Although there is not a lot in the way of studies comparing care delivered by nurse practitioners to that delivered by doctors, there are more studies based on insurance claims that compare both nurse practitioner and physician delivered care, which found that nurse practitioner care tends to be associated with lower costs. In the state of Massachusetts, studies found that the average cost of visiting a nurse practitioner comes to around 20-30% lower compared to the average cost of visiting a doctor, which is welcome news to private and public insurers.
Team-Based Healthcare:
As primary care physicians become more overwhelmed with the increasing population of both chronically ill and elderly patients in need of services and fewer medical students choosing this pathway, team-based healthcare is becoming increasingly more essential and popular. Teams are often comprised of not only doctors but doctor's assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nursing technicians, and other healthcare assistants. Typically, nurse practitioners prefer to work in team-based healthcare environments compared to operating their own independent practices, which often comes with a range of business risks.
More Healthcare Access:
Nurse practitioners are providing better access to care for many patients, particularly those in remote and rural areas who may not have the same type of healthcare facilities that you would usually find in more urban and suburban areas. In states where nurse practitioners are permitted to operate from their own private practice, this has led to an increase of medical care available in areas that would otherwise struggle to provide an adequate level of care to the local population.
Improving Quality of Care:
When it comes to delivering quality healthcare services, the US falls behind other developed nations. A study by the Commonwealth Fund found that in relation to high costs, America has the lowest healthcare performance. The US comes in at the bottom of the rank among eleven countries including Canada, Germany, and the UK in terms of quality, efficiency, and access to healthcare. Nurse practitioners are helping to mitigate this by providing better-quality healthcare and leading the change for improvement. Nurse practitioners do this by providing care that is patient-centered, safe, effective, timely, evidence-based, and equitable. Also, as mentioned earlier, care provided by nurse practitioners is at the same standard of care provided by doctors, with some patients even reporting a higher level of satisfaction, fewer readmissions to hospital, fewer unnecessary visits to the ER, and fewer preventable hospitalizations when receiving care from a nurse practitioner.
Patient-Centered Approach:
What makes nurse practitioners different from other healthcare professionals is their approach to healthcare, which is having a positive effect on healthcare quality in the US. Nurse practitioners are focused on both care and providing a cure and have not only advanced clinical abilities but also a very holistic, balanced understanding of patient health and wellbeing. They are able to develop this unique and exceptional combination of skills by completing a graduate-level nurse practitioner education program which places a high level of emphasis on providing an all-encompassing patient care experience. These nurse practitioner programs train students to provide a quality level of care considering the various factors that have an impact on health and wellbeing. This specialized education allows nurse practitioners to offer a wide range of healthcare services such as health and disease prevention, health education, and health counseling. As a result, patients are better equipped to make choices that better support their own health and wellness.
Personalizing Care:
Today, patients are rightly demanding a more tailored approach to their healthcare. A survey from 2018 found that almost 70% of people desire more personalized healthcare services and want their healthcare provider to consider all of the different factors that influence their physical and mental health. Nurse practitioners are qualified to make this happen since they are trained to provide care that is patient-centered and holistic, which allows them to focus on the health and well-being of the entire person; this is one of the many reasons why nurse practitioners stand out from other healthcare providers and is one of the most important effects of nurse practitioners on modern health care. Nurse practitioner students are able to develop a multifaceted, compassionate approach to nursing practice by learning to treat the whole patient. Students go further than simply studying medicine to understanding all the internal and external factors that influence patient health and wellbeing such as lifestyle, culture, family dynamics, age, race, socioeconomic status, mental health, and more.
Improving Healthcare Policy:
All of these highlighted issues are driving important changes in the US healthcare system and there is a huge push for new policies that are designed to provide the best outcomes for patients. The effect of nurse practitioners on patient care extends far beyond the lives of individual patients to entire communities. Nurse practitioners are holistic healthcare providers who help to design and implement healthcare systems that focus on protecting patients not only physically but also financially. Nurse practitioners do not only work as healthcare providers, but many are also researchers and educators. They possess a variety of knowledge that allows them to get involved in various policymaking activities in healthcare from advancing the nurse practitioner roles to being advocates for patients in terms of getting laws to improve access to healthcare passed.
How to Become a Nurse Practitioner:
What is a family nurse practitioner? A family nurse practitioner delivers patient care in a person-centered way to people of all ages, backgrounds, and statuses. They focus on ensuring that their patients have access to the standards of care that they require and many nurse practitioners can provide care that matches or exceeds the standards that you would expect from a primary care physician.
If you would like to work in a career where you are able to tackle and make a positive change on all of the issues mentioned above, want to care for others and work in an interesting role that allows you to learn and develop your skills, becoming a nurse practitioner could be the ideal choice for you. To become a nurse practitioner, you will first need to become a registered nurse by studying for an associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing and getting your nursing license. If you already have a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing subject, there are several accelerated programs available that allow you to qualify as a registered nurse in a shorter time period. Bear in mind that while an associate's degree will allow you to practice as a registered nurse, most master's programs that are required to be a nurse practitioner will expect you to have a bachelor's degree at least.
Once you are qualified as a registered nurse, you can choose to either go on to study for an advanced degree or spend some time getting clinical experience beforehand. Nurses who are newly graduated and attended nursing school straight out of high school often benefit from gaining some practical experience before moving on to studying to become a nurse practitioner since this allows them to figure out the area of specialty that they would like to move into in the future. Getting a varied range of experiences as a registered nurse gives you the chance to determine your strengths and weaknesses and decide on the areas that you would most enjoy working in before choosing your nurse practitioner career pathway.
To qualify as a nurse practitioner you will need to gain a least a master's degree in nursing. Some nurses go on to get a doctor of nursing practice, which is the highest level of education available for a nurse. There are also several special programs available to choose from that are designed to train nurse practitioners in particular and both classroom-based and online delivery options are available. Since the demand for nurse practitioners is on the rise, one benefit of finding employment as a nurse before moving to an advanced degree is that many employers are prepared to cover some or all of the bill.
Nurse practitioners are having a huge impact on how patient care is improved and delivered in the US.
