The Growing Nurse Practitioner Workforce in Specialty Care
The Growing Nurse Practitioner Workforce in Specialty Care
It is clear from the available data that one third of NPs in the US are currently providing specialty care, and that the demand for their services will grow. The role of the NP was created 50 years ago to address a need for rural pediatric primary care providers; in the 1990s, NPs grew in number and assumed primary care provider roles in response to the primary care physician deficit. Drawing from both the National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners, as well as National Center for Workforce Analysis data, it appears that NPs are now responding to the need for specialty providers. The ability of the specialty NP workforce to respond will depend on each individual state's scope of practice limitations and postgraduate residences or fellowships available in specialties, among other considerations. In the 2010 Institute of Medicine's report on the future of nursing, residencies following completion of an advanced practice degree were among the recommendations indicated, as well as changing practice areas.
Patient outcomes and cost savings analysis have not been as robustly researched in specialty areas as in primary care. Additional research is needed to clarify what further training may be necessary to transition the initial primary or acute care–trained NP into a specialty provider. However, it is clear that the specialty NP workforce makes up a significant portion of NP providers and that their numbers will grow as the demand for specialty services increases.
Future Recommendations
It is clear from the available data that one third of NPs in the US are currently providing specialty care, and that the demand for their services will grow. The role of the NP was created 50 years ago to address a need for rural pediatric primary care providers; in the 1990s, NPs grew in number and assumed primary care provider roles in response to the primary care physician deficit. Drawing from both the National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners, as well as National Center for Workforce Analysis data, it appears that NPs are now responding to the need for specialty providers. The ability of the specialty NP workforce to respond will depend on each individual state's scope of practice limitations and postgraduate residences or fellowships available in specialties, among other considerations. In the 2010 Institute of Medicine's report on the future of nursing, residencies following completion of an advanced practice degree were among the recommendations indicated, as well as changing practice areas.
Patient outcomes and cost savings analysis have not been as robustly researched in specialty areas as in primary care. Additional research is needed to clarify what further training may be necessary to transition the initial primary or acute care–trained NP into a specialty provider. However, it is clear that the specialty NP workforce makes up a significant portion of NP providers and that their numbers will grow as the demand for specialty services increases.
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