Nurse Practitioner Workforce Reaction Paper

Total Length: 678 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

Page 1 of 2

Nurse Practitioners: Better Care Savings

Crosspost: Nurse Practitioner Workforce

Nurse Practitioners: Potential Better Care Savings

Nurse Practitioners: Potential Better Care Savings

With passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 and its stated agenda for controlling the cost of healthcare in America, many are advocating for expansion of the nurse practitioner (NP) workforce and its scope of practice (Poghosyan, Lucero, Rauch, and Berkowitz, 2012). The concerns about current and projected healthcare costs are warranted. In 2009, the U.S. allocated just over 17% of its gross domestic product to health care spending, which is at least 5% above that spent by other Western nations (Squires, 2012). Half of this was spent through Medicare and Medicaid, which provides coverage for retirees, the disabled, and those living in poverty. This is important because the latter two patient populations are those traditionally served by NPs (Poghosyan, Lucero, Rauch, and Berkowitz, 2012).

While many NP workforce advocates have highlighted the limitations that several states have placed NP's scope of practice and the lost healthcare savings thus incurred (Poghosyan, Lucero, Rauch, and Berkowitz, 2012), the potential savings means little unless the care provided is at least equivalent to physicians.
Horrocks and colleagues (2002) conducted a systematic literature review of empirical studies that had investigated quality of care issues surrounding NPs and found no difference in health status, prescriptions written, return consultations, or referrals. However, NPs tended to spend significantly more time with patients and conduct more tests. This would probably explain why patients reported greater satisfaction with NP care.

A more recent systematic review of the literature encompassed 37 studies, many of which had been published since Horrock and colleagues (2002) conducted their study (Newhouse et al., 2011). Based on this analysis, NPs are equivalent to physicians in terms of patient satisfaction, health status, hypertension control, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, ventilation duration, length of hospital stay, and mortality; however, NP patients tended to control their serum glucose and lipid levels better. These findings suggest primary care provided by NPs is at….....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Nurse Practitioner Workforce" (2013, March 25) Retrieved April 28, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/nurse-practitioner-workforce-102332

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Nurse Practitioner Workforce" 25 March 2013. Web.28 April. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/nurse-practitioner-workforce-102332>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Nurse Practitioner Workforce", 25 March 2013, Accessed.28 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/nurse-practitioner-workforce-102332