NPs are nurses in advanced practice

NPs play an important role in health care delivery, especially in fields where there is a shortage of doctors such as mental health.

Many health care consumers do not know what a Nurse Practitioner is—but they should and there is a chance you may have received care or treatment from an NP and may not have known it.

That is because the work NPs do is very similar to what a doctor or physician does. They evaluate symptoms, gather history, diagnose illness and develop a treatment plan which could include prescribing medication for a patient.  NPs play an important role in health care delivery, especially in fields where there is a shortage of doctors such as mental health.

According to Dr. Joe Parks, the Medical Director of the National Council for Behavioral Health and lead author of last month’s report “The Psychiatric Shortage: Causes and Solutions”, the number of psychiatrists is plummeting – down by 10% from 2003 to 2013. The average age of practicing psychiatrists is the mid-50s, compared to the mid-40s for other specialties. ¹

In addition, approximately 55% of counties across the United States currently have no psychiatrist, and 77% report a severe shortage – a situation that is in part due to an increase in demand. ²

Enter NPs. NPs are nurses in advanced practice. Most NPs have at least a graduate level of nursing education and have specialized training in their particular field.  Many have earned board certification in their specialties which include primary care, pediatrics, acute care, women’s health and oncology among others. NPs have prescribing privileges and depending on the state where they practice, they can be either independent or require some oversight by a physician. Generally, most states have moved towards NPs having increased autonomy and independence.

NPs’ training in nursing gives them important skills in assessing an individual’s response to treatment, in particular, how a patient’s whole health–physical, mental, emotional, environmental, spiritual and social aspects of health–have been affected by illness and treatment. Most data comparing performance between doctors and nurse practitioners are published by nursing organizations and journals which show similar outcomes with patient satisfaction scoring higher among patients of nurse practitioners. ³

So when seeking psychiatric treatment consider all options including having a psychiatric nurse practitioner assess your mental health needs and develop a plan to meet your treatment goals.

1 Anderson, Pauline. “Experts Move to Halt Crisis in US Psychiatry.”  Medscape Medical News, 30 Mar 2017

2 National Council Medical Director Institute. “The Psychiatric Shortage: Causes and Solutions.”  National Council for Behavioral Health: 6-7. 28 March. 2017. 

3 Creech C, Filter M, Bowman S et al. “Comparing patient satisfaction with nurse practitioner and physician delivered care.” Poster presented at: 26th Annual American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Conference, 2011: Las Vegas, Nevada.