Nurse practitioners provide quality care for hypertension, according to a Michigan study. ADVANCE for NPs reported on the study results. Nurse practitioners in the division of nephrology and hypertension at Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit recently completed a study that further documented the effectiveness of nurse practitioner ...

Salon.com has a piece today on the shortage of primary care physicians. It's a pretty good summary of a bleak situation. Just as the U.S. financial gurus failed to acknowledge the seriousness of our present credit crisis, today's politicians are avoiding what promises to be a similar catastrophe in healthcare -- the availability of ...

The AMA House of Delegates adopted a resolution asking the AMA to look at the ethics surrounding physician extenders employing their supervising physicians. HOD ACTION: Resolution 13 adopted. This resolution asks the AMA to define the ethical boundaries applicable to physicians supervising or collaborating with physician extenders while ...

Today's American Medical News also has advice for physicians about employment contracts for NPs. When a nurse practitioner is hired, the terms of the relationship should be clearly defined in an agreement and should not be based merely on a handshake. Memorializing the terms of the agreement legally protects both the medical practice and the ...

The top story on the American Medical News Web site is about the doctor of nursing practice degree and the National Board of Medical Examiners' DNP test and certification. Starting this fall, doctor of nursing practice graduates will be able to take a certification test that proponents say will set a national standard for DNPs and add to the ...

The AAPA has a cover story on retail-based health clinics in the May 15 AAPA News.  If in-store health clinics were a stock, should you buy, sell, or hold? Industry watchers predict that the number of walk-in retail medical clinics nationwide will jump to nearly 8,000 by 2011 and earn an estimated $4.5 billion. Minneapolis-based ...

American Medical News has an article about advanced-practice nursing bills in 24 states this year. At least 24 states are already considering bills or are expecting measures to be introduced this year. Measures address issues such as independent practice, doctor supervision of nurses, prescribing authority, or extended prescribing, including ...

Maryland NP Lois Wessel wrote an article for today's Washington Post about some of the challenges of providing health care to immigrants. A 42-year-old political refugee from Sierra Leone, trained as a chemist in France, recently showed up -- desperate -- at the mobile health clinic in Silver Spring where I work as a nurse practitioner. He had ...