Hooray for Nurse Practitioners!
There are more than 250,000 licensed nurse practitioners across the United States today. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) sponsors National Nurse Practitioner (NP) Week annually to celebrate these increasingly autonomous healthcare providers.
Qualified to bridge gaps between community healthcare needs and limited physician supply, today’s NPs urge lawmakers to reduce or eliminate barriers preventing NPs from serving where unmet healthcare needs exist. Last month Delaware became the 24th US state to grant full practice authority to NPs, joining 23 other states plus the District of Columbia and two US territories that have done the same (including Massachusetts, which did so in January 2021).
Staff Care’s 2021 Survey of Locum Tenens Providers suggests increasing numbers of NPs work on a locum tenens basis: While only 8% of 2016 survey respondents identified as NPs or PAs, twice as many claimed those categories in Staff Care’s most recent survey.
Validating the increasing locum tenens practice trend, LocumTenens.com survey data from September 2020¹, published in May 2021 (2,300 responses), indicated 55% of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic are now employed full-time, while an additional 28% are working locum tenens.
AANP: Molding NPs for Leadership
The inaugural AANP Executive Leadership Program, begun in April 2021, brought together a cohort of nurse practitioners (NPs) seeking to develop the personal qualities, relationship-building skills, and problem-solving expertise necessary to lead effectively. The George Washington University (GWU) School of Nursing designed the program’s curricula to prepare participants to guide the next generation of nurse practitioners toward even greater success.
Nurse Practitioners, Locumpedia salutes you!
¹ Including Physicians
