NP Achievements Around the World
If you're an NP who owns your own practice, be sure to enter the 2009 ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners
NP Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Do it for Leah Hansen, perhaps the only nurse practitioner with her own practice in Australia. Because her practice isn't in the United States, Hansen isn't eligible for the competition. But you are.
Now, some more about Hansen and her practice...
Almost all NPs in Australia work in hospital settings, but otherwise their training and struggles are similar to those NPs have faced in the United States: resistance from other health professionals, different legal requirements in different states, less than full prescribing authority, lack of recognition by the public, etc. The role is also very young -- about a decade old -- and NPs number fewer than 1,000.
That makes Hansen's Revive Clinic all the more remarkable. She and a business partner opened two clinics in Western Australia in December: one a standalone office in a shopping center, and another a "pod" in a pharmacy. According to Hansen, these are the first NP-owned clinics and the first retail-based NP clinic in the country.
The partners have plans to expand Revive Clinics in the next couple of months with four more pharmacy clinics in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. NPs are cash-only in Australia, and Revive's Web site provides a clear overview of the clinic's services and fees.
If you're an NP outside the United States and read ADVANCE, let us know. We're interested in what's happening with the profession around the world.