Advance Primary Care III Essay
Advance Primary Care III Essay
It is no secret that the current healthcare reformation is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify a way to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, …show more content…Advance Primary Care III Essay
Background
Nurse Practitioners are a relatively new concept within the American healthcare system. The first Nurse Practitioners were educated in 1965, the same year that Medicaid was established, in response to a nationwide shortage of physicians. Loretta Ford, RN and Dr. Henry Silver introduced the first informal training program for Nurse Practitioners at the University of Colorado. This model was not well received by some nursing leaders or physicians (Mundinger, 1994). Certain nursing leaders believed that nurses were no longer practicing nursing and the title of Nurse Practitioner was misleading. Medical physicians opposed the concept of nurses functioning as an expanded role under the direction of a physician. Facing these challenges and oppositions, Nurse Practitioners began their journey to define and legitimize their profession (O’Brian, 2003).
Currently, the National Council for the State Boards of Nursing has written a consensus model in an attempt to regulate the licensure for APRNs. Advance Primary Care III Essay