Nurse practitioners changed U.S. health care
Posted over 9 years ago by Nicholas M Perrino
"Back in the 1960s, while thousands of Americans were "sitting in" for civil rights and burning draft cards to end the Vietnam War, one Colorado nurse started a quiet health care revolution.
At that time many children, especially the poor and those living in rural and medically underserved areas, lacked access to health care services. Loretta Ford, a public health nurse, believed that experienced registered nurses (RNs) could improve children's health if they were trained to provide many of the health care services that were historically provided only by physicians. So she began collaborating with a physician colleague and in 1965 changed health care by creating the first nurse practitioner (NP). Since then, the NP profession has spread like wildfire, expanding to all 50 states and to more than 20 other countries. More than 205,000 nurses have been trained as NPs, and they deliver half of the primary health care in the U.S. This month, NPs and their patients across the world are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the profession.
Eighty seven percent of NPs specialize in the primary care of children, women, adults and older adults, families or those with mental health problems. More than 80 percent of NPs care for the uninsured, and 84 percent see Medicaid and Medicare patients. In rural areas, NPs are often the only health care provider.
Like other health care providers, NPs collaborate with other professionals to provide high quality health care services. More than 40 years of research shows that NPs provide safe, high quality and effective health care. The hundreds of millions of satisfied patients seen annually attest to the confidence patients have in NP care."