Thank you for the response to our previous informational email. We are
writing today to answer some questions that arose from our previous
correspondence.
One question that was asked was the difference between a nurse
practitioner and a physician assistant. Nurse practitioners have a
bachelor’s of science in nursing degree prior to entering graduate
school. Many programs require a certain number of hours working as a
nurse prior to enrolling in the graduate program. Students can select to
be prepared at the Master’s or Doctoral level. Nurse practitioners
operate under their full scope of practice in 19 states and the District of
Columbia. Nurse practitioners are able to assess, diagnose, and treat
acute and chronic health conditions.
Physician assistants graduate with a Bachelors degree from an
institution of higher learning. The degree does not need to be healthcare
related, though frequently students have a biology or science degree.
Physician assistants are educated at the Master’s level and work under
the supervision of a MD or DO. Physician assistants are also able to
perform many functions of patient care under the supervision of a MD
or DO.
Another question pertained to nurse practitioner outcomes.
Approximately 80% nurse practitioners provide primary care services
throughout the United States. Multiple studies over the last 20 years
have consistently demonstrated nurse practitioners provide high
quality, cost effective primary care to patients of all ages. Newer
studies published in the last decade or more reveal multiple specialty
areas (ICU, cardiology, gastroenterology, surgery, internal medicine,
psychology, orthopedics oncology, radiology, neurology, gerontology)
where nurse practitioners are proving they are an integral part of patient
care. Many studies have been conducted that looked at patient
outcomes.
A large study published in 2000 from the Journal of American Medical
Association (JAMA) studied 3,397 patients over a 6-month time frame.
This study was a watershed study for the efficacy of nurse practitioners
in primary care. The results found there was no significant difference in
patient health status when cared for by either a nurse practitioner or
physician. In March 2005, a study of 526 consecutive patients was
published in the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC). This study
compared teams of acute care nurse practitioners and attending
physician verses physician and critical care/pulmonary fellows. The
management by both teams produced equivalent outcomes. The Nurse
Critical Care Journal (NCCJ) March-April 2011 published results of a
literature review on the impact nurse practitioners have in critical care
services. The critical care nurse practitioner was found to improve
patient flow and clinical outcomes as well as financial outcomes with
reduced ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay over all and
decreased readmission rates.