My contact with pain patients was extensive during my residency in Aurora, North Carolina, a coastal town of about 400, with a patient population compromising of retirees, commercial fisherman and above-ground miners from a phosphate mine. I knew from that experience that even if I never found a job as an NP, I would not choose to do pain ...

In our recent Opinions & Essays article ''PAs: The Need Is Great, the Time Is Now,'' author Sharon Bahrych, PA-C, MPH, responded to reader Tina's concerns about choosing the correct career path. ''Yes, you are definitely not alone in your feelings at this stage of your career. Try to find a local NP group that meets once a month for CME, ...

If you're not chatting with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, ''like'', ''follow'' and ''connect'' with us and start sharing in the conversations! If you are, keep following and spread the word! This week, our social media sites exploded with great comments from our readers. Here are some of the highlights, copied verbatim and without ...

In this profession it is an honor and privilege to be a part of someone's care. Being a nurse for so many years, I never dreamed that I would have the opportunities I have been afforded by being a practitioner. While this is not earth shattering, I just really appreciate performing the basic office procedures that I have been studying ...

On my first day working the clinic alone, I saw 19 patients, half of whom were primary care patients and the others a combination of family planning, child health, and STDs. The nurses were amazed and very pleasantly surprised. Given that the PA who was fired saw seven to eight patients a day, and often left the clinic without notice, anyone ...

To treat or not to treat, that is the dilemma. In my current job I divide my time between the clinic environment and the hospital. The patients and disease processes I see in the hospital setting are exceptionally diverse, however, the process to hunt down the source of infection is remarkably similar: blood cultures times two, urine ...

STD screens and treatment are a bread-and-butter public health service. Screenings are usually handled by enhanced-role RNs trained in speculum exams, collecting cultures and wet mounts, though not performing Pap smears. Because our enhanced role RN is the lead nurse for the entire clinic, I do the STD screens when she's covering other ...

At the start of 2011, we published an article describing the job outlook for NPs and PAs this year. Based on our research and interviews with workforce experts, we crafted a headline for that article using the term ''changing landscape,'' and our cover image depicted an NP or PA partially protected by an umbrella. The expectation was that 2011 ...

   ''Before putting the tongue depressor in my mouth, she listened to every word that came out of it.'' So reads an expertly executed advertisement in today's Philadelphia Inquirer (page A9). What a great way to educate consumers about nurse practitioner care! The ad, which is for Take Care Health Services clinics in select Walgreens, ...

  This morning's inbox featured a raving review of retail health clinics from Mary Hunt, the writer known as ''The Everyday Cheapskate.'' The headline for her e-newsletter today is ''You're Sick, They're Quick.'' In it, she recounts her son's recent visit to a Minute Clinic located within a CVS pharmacy. ''He walked in without an ...