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This is a nice synopsis of key moments in history that have triggered the growth and development of the NP role in the US.

Nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners, also referred to as advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), provide and coordinate patient care and they may provide primary and specialty health care. The scope of practice varies from state to state.

BACKGROUND: The trauma service experienced preventable delays caused by an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education work restrictions and a 16% increase in patient census. Furthermore, nurses needed a consistently accessible provider for the coordination of care. We hypothesized that using experienced acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) on the stepdown unit would improve throughput and decrease length of stay (LOS) and hospital charges. Moreover, we hypothesized that adding ACNPs would improve staff satisfaction. On December 1, 2011, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Division of Trauma reassigned ACNPs to the stepdown area 5 days a week for a pilot program. METHODS: LOS data from December 1, 2011 through December 1, 2012 was compared with data from the same months from the previous two years and estimated hospital charges and patient days were extrapolated. Physician and nursing surveys were performed. Data from 2010 (n = 2,559) and 2011 (n= 2,671) were averaged and the mean LOS for the entire trauma service was 7.2 days. After adding an experienced ACNP, the average LOS decreased to 6.4 days, a 0.8 day reduction. Per patient, there was a $ 9,111.50 savings in hospital charges, for a reduction of $27.8 million dollars in hospital charges over the 12 month pilot program. RESULTS: A confidential survey administered to attending physicians showed that 100% agreed that a nurse practitioner in the stepdown area was beneficial and helped throughput. Dayshift nurses were surveyed, and 100% agreed or strongly agreed that the ACNPs were knowledgeable about the patient's plan of care, experienced in the care of trauma patients, and improved patient care overall. CONCLUSION: The addition of experienced ACNPs resulted in the decrease of overall trauma service LOS, saving almost $9 million in hospital charges

"Council of Primary Care Nurse Practitioners, a move that helped solidify the role of Nurse Practitioners in the United States health care system"

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 1990) was to gain insight into the meaning and lived experience of nurse practitioners (NP) with at least one year of work experience regarding their initial transition from new graduate to hospital-based practitioner. This study provided information regarding NP hospital-based transition experience that had not been revealed in the nursing literature. The meaning of transitioning into hospital-based practice was discovered through analysis of nurse practitioner letters and interviews in this phenomenological study. Six themes emerged from this research including: Going from expert RN to novice NP; system integration; "Don't Give Up"; Learning "On the Fly"; They Don't Understand my NP Role; and Succeeding Through Collaboration.   Master's prepared, board-certified NPs in North Carolina (NC) with between one and three years of NP practice experience in a hospital setting comprised the population of interest for this study. Twelve participants were purposefully sampled from nine hospitals in NC. Individual, voice-recorded, in-depth, open-ended telephone interviews were conducted with each participant.   The majority of the participants indicated a timeframe that ranged from six to 18 months regarding how long it took them to feel more comfortable in their NP role, the lack of comfort was most intense during the first nine months of practice. Participants confronted multiple obstacles and challenges as new NPs. These challenges included navigating and negotiating a new health care provider role; becoming integrated into a hospital system in what was a new role for them and sometimes for the system; learning how to function effectively as a NP while simultaneously working to re-establish themselves as proficient clinicians with a newly expanded practice scope; building key relationships; and educating physicians, hospital leaders, clinical staff, patients, and families about the NP

Great article on nursing residency programs and the opportunities they provide. BONUS- includes insight from an Emory NP Alum who completed a residency program in Washington!!

Faced with a shortage of primary care doctors, more and more clinics are relying on nurse practitioners to fill the gap. But that creates another gap, in the level of training providers bring to the job. Residency programs--once reserved for physicians--are popping up for nurse practitioners as well.

The primary role of a pediatric acute care nurse practitioner is to provide care for acutely, critically and chronically ill children from newborn to 21 years old. In rare cases, care is extended to individuals older than 21.

The article provides a good comprehensive timeline of the history of Advanced Practice Nurse specialties.

This article focuses on the Nurse Practitioners contribution to primary care. Randomized trials were performed to help us better understand how Nurse Practitioners compare to Primary Care Physicians in the eyes of patients. Conclusions showed that patients outcomes were equivalent in their satisfaction, physical, social and emotional functioning when compared to seeing a Physician versus a Nurse Practitioner. It was also found during the studies that lower costs of care was associated with NP's.

Diverse regulatory criteria, such as variable accreditation standards, disparate certification and licensing requirements, inconsistent population foci, and scopes of practice, represent barriers to optimized APRN function within today's complex healthcare system and, ultimately, reduced access to safe, quality care for patients. The Consensus Model for APRN Regulation promises to unify APRN education, practice, and licensure, promoting greater mobility among nursing professionals. Elimination of inconsistencies in APRN licensure, education, certification, and accreditation requirements will promote greater value and mobility for the APRN within the healthcare system. Rounds, L. R., Zych, J. J. and Mallary, L. L. (2012), The consensus model for regulation of APRNs: Implications for nurse practitioners. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. doi:10.1111/j.1745-7599.2012.00812.x

Timeline on the role of the NP/APRN from the beginning. I like that it's done by decade.

Brief history of AANP

Very helpful timeline of the creation and establishment of NPs

Ford and Silver, co-founder of nurse practitioner movement

This link shows all the certifying bodies available and has links to those websites The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest and only full-service national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties.

This article provides an in-depth look at the scope of practice of acute care nurse practitioners. It touches on the history of the nurse practitioner role and how the acute role was developed from there. It also states that the first acute care nurse practitioners to be established were NNPs.

Thanks so much for finding this article! Exactly what I needed, and seeing as I was searching for stuff a couple hours and didnt find this, I know it wasnt easy, so thanks!

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest and only full-service national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties.

Great article by John Iglehart, Founding Editor, Health Affairs Population aging and recent coverage expansions have fueled concerns about physician shortages in primary care, leading several influential groups to recommend that nurse practitioners take on a larger role. The ACA promotes nurse practitioners as an integral part of the future workforce, and emerging care settings, such as retail clinics, rely heavily on nurse practitioners.

This article discusses the benefits and pit-falls to autonomous primary care Nurse practitioner practice and advocates for cost effective improvements to our healthcare system. The research suggests that Nurse practitioners who practice independently report greater job satisfaction, improved patient outcomes and provide low cost, high quality services that are equal or superior to primary care physicians. Unfortunately, current healthcare reimbursement models, policies and reluctant physicians have created barriers to autonomous NP practices. The author suggests that autonomous practice requires further research across the U.S, the establishment of a well-defined model and the evaluation of patient outcomes, in order to determine whether the present day Nurse practitioner requires future collaborative agreements with physicians, in order to provide quality patient care across the United States.

Interactive NP Scope of Practice guide that offers a snapshot of each state's scope of practice laws. Shows how nurse practitioner (NP) scope of practice laws vary from state-to-state.

This article details the researchers' efforts to describe the ability of nurse practitioners to reduce health disparities. By reviewing the literature, the researchers were able to create a "Nurse Practitioner Health Disparities Model" that outlines the many factors that influence a NP's ability to reduce health disparities. Outside actors, such as policymakers and insurance companies, can also influence the ability of nurse practitioners to reduce health disparities. Thus, the model is a useful tool in promoting full practice for APRNs.

Nurse Practitioner residency programs are a fairly new concept in the healthcare arena. The first program, introduced in 2007, was developed by Community Health Center, Inc. in Connecticut with the goal to increase the number of family nurse practitioners in the community health settings.