As a leading educator, Frontier Nursing University strongly advocates for nurse practitioners and the important role they play in improving access to healthcare. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), there are currently 234,000 nurse practitioners in the United States and that number is projected to grow to 244,000 by 2025. Several studies show that patient satisfaction and health outcomes under nurse practitioner care can be better in specific instances than care provided by physicians, particularly in rural areas.
This is important as we face a health care professional shortage. The Health Resources and Service Administration predicts a shortage of 23,640 primary care physicians by 2025. While the number of nurse practitioners will increase by 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the number of nurse practitioners in rural areas is decreasing while the number of people living in rural areas remains steady at about 19 percent of the U.S. population.
Educate Nurse Practitioners in Their Communities
Nurse practitioners in primary care do not replace physicians, but studies have shown that nurse practitioners can manage 80 to 90 percent of care provided by primary care physicians (Rohrer, et. al. 2013). Therefore, it is important that nurse practitioners – particularly in rural and underserved areas – be educated in their home communities if they wish.
Nurse practitioners are more likely to stay and practice in their home community if they are educated there, and their patients are more likely to seek their care because they know and trust them. Frontier Nursing University is working to increase not only the number of nurse practitioners, but also diversity among those who provide care in rural and underserved areas through our distance education model.
Nurse Practitioners Should Advocate on Important Issues
It is also important that nurse practitioners get involved with their state advance practice groups and advocacy efforts. Only 24 states have full scope practice for nurse practitioners (AANP, 2017). This is legislation we can work together to change. Our elected representatives need to hear our voices and understand that we need to practice at the highest extent of our education and licenses. There are fewer nurse practitioners in states with restricted practice, and health outcomes are worse in those states.
Additionally, nurse practitioners should be reimbursed for their work. Medicare reimbursement remains at 85 percent of physicians’ fee schedules. Medicaid, the top payer in many areas, varies by state, and some states do not recognize nurse practitioners as primary care providers (National Governors Association, 2012).
Nurse Practitioners Improve Quality and Efficiency of Care
When nurse practitioners have their own panel of patients, the result is a more efficient practice and better continuity of care. While some providers may not allow nurse practitioners to have their own panels, we encourage nurse practitioners to ask.
We also recommend that health care providers and management teams provide nurse practitioners with the necessary resources and support to deliver care using their advanced practice skills. This includes a commitment to diversity in the health care organization. A racially and ethnically diverse workforce that represents the patient population leads to better health outcomes, better patient satisfaction and better use of services.
Diversity, teamwork and a shared vision of care creates a supportive work environment and that has a positive effect on healthcare outcomes. Patients come back, they get well, and by increasing access to care, nurse practitioners make a significant difference in their communities.
References
- American Association of Nurse Practitioner (2017) NP Fact Sheet https://www.aanp.org/all-about-nps/np-fact-sheet
- US Census Bureau (2015) Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC; Author
- Institute of Medicine, 2010
- US Department of Health and Human Services (2016) National and Regional Projections of Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners: 2013-2025. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2002
- National Governors Association (2012) The Role of the Nurse Practitioners in Meeting Increasing Demand for Primary Care. Retrieved https://www.nga.org/cms/home/nga-center-for-best-practices/center-publications/page-health-publications/col2-content/main-content-list/the-role-of-nurse-practitioners.html
- Hansen-Turton Poghosyan,l. & Carthon, J. (2017) The untapped Potential of Nurse Practitioner Workforce in Reducing Health Disparities. Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice 2017, Vol. 18 (2) 84-94
- Rohrer, J. E., K. B. Angstman, G. M. Garrison, J. L. Pecina, J. A. Maxson. (2013) Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Are Complements to Family Medicine Physicians. Population Health Management 16(4):242-45
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).