Essay On Nurse Practitioner

2510 Words6 Pages

o Type of healthcare worker: Nurse practitioner o When this type of work entered the market: The medical profession of nurse practitioner was developed in the mid 1960s. The job of nurse practitioners grew from implementing work from primary care physicians into that of traditional nurses. o Reasons for creation and growth: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, increased specialization amongst physicians was taking place, which led to many doctors exploring other avenues of medicine, resulting in a large shortage of physicians practicing primary care. This left many rural and inner city areas with very limited access to medical care. During this same time, Medicaid and Medicare programs were growing rapidly and increasing the number of individuals covered, such as to low income individuals, the disabled, and the elderly. The abrupt expansion of coverage caused the demand of primary care services to skyrocket. With physicians no longer able to meet the growing demand, nurses stepped to provide medical care, and soon believed that were qualified to broaden their role and scope of abilities. In 1965, a nurse and physician, Loretta Ford and Henry Silver, recognized the need for a training program, and developed the first curriculum for nurse practitioners. Since then, the role of nurse practitioner has rapidly increased in response to the expanding and growing need for accessible and affordable care and is currently ranked as one of the fastest growing professions in healthcare. o Financial implications: Lower overall costs have been associated with NP (nurse practitioner) care. Studies show that the average cost of a nurse practitioner visit is approximately 25-30 percent lower compared to that of a physician visit. For exam... ... middle of paper ... ...sation. This is causing audiologists in the future to pursue careers in research, military audiology, and academia, instead of private practice. However, since hearing loss is associated with aging, individuals continually demand services from audiologists. Also, members of the baby boomer generation are all now seeking services from audiologists. It is projected that the profession of audiology is to grow approximately 37% within the next few years, and the field is to continue expanding. o Impact on other healthcare workers: Audiologists have aided certain types of doctors such as ENTs and are sometimes seen as ancillaries for primary care physicians. Also they can work alongside hearing aid dispensers providing audiological care. Sometimes this can cause confusion among consumers seeking hearing care as to what the different roles are of the professionals.

Open Document