Nurse practitioners provide care to patients in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare settings. With a growing shortage of primary care providers (PCPs), nurse practitioners have worked with PCPs to provide daily patient care. The video “How Primary Care Offices Work for New Nurse Practitioners>” offers insights into the role of nurses in primary care services.
Nurse practitioners and physicians working in primary care are the perfect partners in delivering care, reducing costs, and improving health. Nurse practitioner-led clinics provide quality of care comparable to physician-led clinics.
Research also shows that nurse practitioner-provided primary care is less costly than physician-provided primary care.
Primary care services are becoming increasingly complex due to the aging population. Nurse practitioners have advanced skills for assessing and managing common illnesses. They can also provide treatments for many chronic diseases, including depression, anxiety, and asthma.
In addition, chronic disease management will become even more prevalent as patients live longer lives. This means that nurse practitioners will be even more involved in primary care services than in the past. As a result, nurse practitioners will need to be familiar with the latest evidence-based guidelines. For decades, nurse practitioners (NP) have been an integral part of the primary healthcare team. That said, with the newly expanded scope of practice and authority, they have a vital role in providing primary care services.
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