THE IMPACT OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS AND PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS ON NURSING HOME QUALITY

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants: do you know the difference?

W I was a new graduate nurse working on a medicalsurgical unit, I assumed that Karen was a physician as she rounded and wrote patient care orders. Another nurse identified Karen as a nurse practitioner (NP) and opened my eyes to a whole new world of advanced nursing practice. I was curious to know more about NPs and physician assistants (PAs), whom I also saw in patient care. Was it legal for t...

Expanding Roles of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants

Comparison of the quality of patient referrals from physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners.

OBJECTIVE To compare the quality of referrals of patients with complex medical problems from nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and physicians to general internists. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective comparison study involving regional referrals to an academic medical center from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010. All 160 patients referred by NPs a...

Patient Satisfaction: Comparing Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and Physicians

bottom right WENDY RAY is the assistant to the Assistant Regional Medical Director for Quality Management and Systems for NWP in Portland, Oregon. Patient acceptance and satisfaction with care has only recently received attention in the medical literature. Interest has grown concomitantly with increasing competition among health plans: Because they need to attract and retain members, health pla...

Nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants in physician offices.

The expansion of health insurance coverage through health care reform, along with the aging of the population, are expected to strain the capacity for providing health care. Projections of the future physician workforce predict declines in the supply of physicians and decreasing physician work hours for primary care. An expansion of care delivered by nurse practitioners (NPs), certified nurse m...