From the ADVANCE for NPs blog: Members of the ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners staff, namely myself and Managing and Web Editor Jill Rollet, are in attendance at the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Over 3,500 inquisitive NPs are bustling about the grandiose new Gaylord on the Potomac resort ...

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 ...

There has been very little in the news about PAs recently. It's almost as if the profession's public profile is actually becoming lower. A Google News search for ''physician assistant'' this morning returned 283 hits. A search for ''nurse practitioner'' returned 723 results. Does that mean anything? You got me.  

I feel like I have been reading slight variations of this article since 1996. Link

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 ...

  A resolution to be considered during the American Medical Association House of Delegates June 14-18 in Chicago is proposed by the Georgia Delegation, Resolution 214 (A-08). Its purpose is to oppose the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) participating in any credentialing procedures for Doctors of Nursing Practitioners (DrNP) and ...

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 ...

Just noticed this interesting Student Academy of the AAPA resolution from San Antonio. Resolution 2008-02The Student Academy resolves to explore the possibility of the Student Academy developing relationships with student nurse practitioners groups.Status-CARRIED I'm definitely going to spend some time in the SAAAPA AOR next year. Link

From the ''new and up-to-date'' American Heritage Medical Dictionary: physician's assistant A person trained and licensed to provide basic medical services, usually under the supervision of a physician. nurse practitioner A registered nurse with advanced training for providing primary health care, including many tasks customarily performed by ...