Emory Becoming an APRN

A major factor that supported the development and evolution of the Nurse Practitioner role in the 1960s was lack of access to health services. The American public’s struggles to gain access to primary care and preventive services are certainly nothing new, and this need crosses socioeconomic lines.

Certification programs that focused on training the practitioner to work in a specific field followed specialization, and were sometimes tied to state licensure requirements.

By the early 1980s, nurse practitioner education moved into graduate programs and by 1981, most states required graduate degrees for nurse practitioner practice.  In response to the scientific knowledge explosion, programs kept adding new courses, expanding their length and their credit loads. By the turn of the 21st century, most nurse practitioner programs credit hours far exceeded those in other graduate programs. At the same time there was a growing movement towards practice doctorates in other professions and this led educators to think about new types of nurse practitioner programs. By 2005, the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) became the newest level of practitioner training, giving credit for the breadth of content in the nurse practitioner programs.

Established in 1973, NAPNAP has been actively advocating for  children's health by: providing funding, education, and research opportunities to PNPs; and producing and distributing educational materials to parents and families.

There are approximately 14,000 practicing PNPs in the U.S.

n 1965, a nurse and a pediatrician at the University of Colorado had the vision to extend the role of the pediatric nurse in providing child health care services. They began to educate registered nurses to become PNPs by teaching them to do physical examinations, diagnose and treat patients, and assist in family counseling.