A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a registered professional nurse who is currently licensed to practice and has undergone an advanced education programs which is recognized by the State Board of Nurse Examiners (Sherwood, Brown, Fay and Wardell, 1997). The NP plays an expanded role in nursing, providing care for individuals, families, and/or groups in a wide range of settings such as the home, hospitals, schools, community agencies, clinics (public and private), and in private practice. Some NPs practice independently, while others work in collaboration with other health care professionals. They concentrate on health assessments to promote health and prevent disease, diagnose and manage common acute conditions, refer patients to specialists when appropriate, and manage patients with stable chronic conditions in many different settings.
NPs may order, conduct, and interpret appropriate laboratory and diagnostic tests, and prescribe pharmacologic agents, treatments, and nonpharmacologic therapies (Sherwood, Brown, Fay and Wardell, 1997). They are also responsible for educating and counseling individuals and families about healthy lifestyle behavior. NPs may also practice as Advanced Practice Nurses (APN), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNE) Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), and Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM), with appropriate study and training (History, 2006; Sherwood, Brown, Fay and Wardell, 1997). NPs serve the needs of primary health care systems, providing personalized, client-oriented, comprehensive care along a continuum of the treatment process, and integrating all aspects of health care for the patient over time.
The role of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) grew out of a need to increase patient access to primary care in places where a primary physician was not available (Sherwood, Brown, Fay and Wardell, 1997). The first NP program was developed at the University of Colorado in 1965 to prepare NPs to work i...