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Nurse Practitioners are advanced practice nurses (APNs) who provide primary and acute care to individuals in many settings. The NP diagnoses and treats medical and surgical conditions that require acute, short-term management and chronic, long-term treatment. States vary in regulating processes regarding collaborative agreements, prescriptive authority, medical staff privileges, and insurance/third party reimbursement.
The nurse practitioner role originated in 1960 as a demonstration project that sought to increase nurses' skills in caring for well children in community health settings. Lorretta Ford, the founder of the role, had a background in public health nursing. She felt that the refinement of the assessment and clinical decision-making skills of the nurse was a natural extension of nursing practice and that findings from the demonstration project could then be incorporated into college nursing education (Ford, 1997). The 1960s seemed ripe for an innovative approach: there was social upheaval and a redefining of roles. The importance of collegiate nursing education was coming into focus.
Unfortunately, the body of nursing as a whole was less than enthusiastic about the role. There were questions about whether the scope of practice was indeed nursing. Other questions arose about the role physicians had in the education of these nurses and in nurses' collaboration with medicine. Sadly, the result of this divergent opinion among nurse leaders resulted in the splitting of the nurse practitioners and other practicing nurses into different camps. This split resulted in varying curricula (i.e., certificate and master's degree programs) for nurse practitioners and a lack of a cohesive nursing voice in the political arena for all nurses.
Many changes in the role of the nurse practitioner have occurred over the past 30 years. Nursing has more clearly defined educational preparation for nurses and nursing's role in shaping the health care delivery system. There is no longer great divergence in curricula. Certification as a nurse practitioner now requires a master's degree in nursing and is a requirement for practice by some state boards of nursing (Stafford & Appleyard, 1994). Nurse practitioners have prescriptive privileges in most states, but may differ on the ability to prescribe controlled substances.
The nurse practitioner role encompasses areas of specialization. These include: acute care
adult NPs care for people 14 and older
family NPs care for...