Nurse Practitioner Publicity
We are seeing increasing coverage of nurse practitioners in the news. For example, in Sunday's edition of the Naples News of Florida, we see a long article describing the increase of NPs and PAs in primary care. Several heavy hitters in the NP and PA communities were interviewed, such as Jan Towers of the AANP:
Jan Towers, a nurse practitioner for more than 30 years who leads the government affairs offices of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners said: “Unlike a lot of doctors in primary care, we still like what we do. There’s a lot less burnout among our practitioners, and I think a lot of that has to do with how we practice, that we can take time with patients and do more prevention and screening at each visit.”
Another example of recent media buzz on NPs comes from ABC News in a video titled "Fixing a Broken Health Care System," which discusses the Mayo Clinic's decision to implement NP and PA care for its staff.
With this publicity comes the opportunity to see public comments, which continue to pour in at the bottom of both pieces and range from "Keep up the great work!!" to "...the idea that a nonphysician can be independent is absurd." Weigh in with comments and support your NP role!