The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners issued a statement celebrating National NP Week, which spans Nov. 13-19.
The AANP noted that with the looming shortage of healthcare providers, NPs offer the "high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered services needed to help solve the increasing demand for access to quality healthcare in the United States."
For nearly half a century, according to the academy, NPs have established themselves as licensed, expert clinicians who provide primary, acute and specialty healthcare services: "In addition to diagnosing and managing acute and chronic illness, NPs place a strong emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, working as a partner with their patients to help them make educated healthcare decisions and healthy lifestyle choices."
"The high level of satisfaction and confidence that patients have in NPs is evidenced by the approximate 600 million visits that are made to NPs each year," Penny Kaye Jensen, APRN, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP, president of the AANP, said in the news release.
National NP Week represents an opportunity to remind lawmakers that "now is the time to give consumers the freedom to choose among all qualified providers by removing scope-of-practice barriers and expanding collaborative efforts to provide high-quality care," according to the statement.
With increasing frequency, according to the AANP, healthcare analysts have called on lawmakers to allow NPs to practice to the full scope of their education and training and to recognize them as full partners, with physicians and other healthcare professionals, in redesigning healthcare in the United States.
The most prominent example was last year's report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," by the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It cited NPs as a key component in expanding healthcare to all Americans.
The AANP noted that with the looming shortage of healthcare providers, NPs offer the "high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered services needed to help solve the increasing demand for access to quality healthcare in the United States."
For nearly half a century, according to the academy, NPs have established themselves as licensed, expert clinicians who provide primary, acute and specialty healthcare services: "In addition to diagnosing and managing acute and chronic illness, NPs place a strong emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, working as a partner with their patients to help them make educated healthcare decisions and healthy lifestyle choices."
"The high level of satisfaction and confidence that patients have in NPs is evidenced by the approximate 600 million visits that are made to NPs each year," Penny Kaye Jensen, APRN, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP, president of the AANP, said in the news release.
National NP Week represents an opportunity to remind lawmakers that "now is the time to give consumers the freedom to choose among all qualified providers by removing scope-of-practice barriers and expanding collaborative efforts to provide high-quality care," according to the statement.
With increasing frequency, according to the AANP, healthcare analysts have called on lawmakers to allow NPs to practice to the full scope of their education and training and to recognize them as full partners, with physicians and other healthcare professionals, in redesigning healthcare in the United States.
The most prominent example was last year's report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," by the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It cited NPs as a key component in expanding healthcare to all Americans.
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