AANP Celebrates 50,000th Member
Growing demand and recognition for nurse practitioners spurs greater professional unity
AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the largest national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties, today announced it has reached the milestone of 50,000 members.
AANP membership has steadily increased since the organization's inception in 1985 with a membership of 100 NPs. By the end of 2012, AANP membership had reached 38,000 members. Membership increased a record 19 percent in 2013, ending with 48,075. Following a similar trajectory, AANP is pleased to announce that we have reached a total membership of 50,000.
Mirroring the AANP membership spike is an increased demand for NPs in diverse health care settings nationwide, and thus greater numbers of NPs joining the profession. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that new NP positions will grow at a rate of 33.7 percent between 2012 and 2022; currently over 189,000 NPs serve in the U.S. workforce. These figures helped spur U.S. News & World Report to rank NPs as the fourth best overall job of 2014.
"AANP has seen its membership grow alongside the health care industry and public's embrace of NPs as highly educated clinicians who provide safe, cost-effective and vital services," said Angela Golden, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP, Co-President. "We expect this figure to continue climbing as the nation seeks innovative health delivery solutions to meet the needs of an aging patient population with increasingly complex health conditions."
"The NP community has also become increasingly unified in its efforts to provide patients all throughout the country with full and direct access to NP care," added Kenneth P. Miller, PhD, RN, CFNP, FAAN, Co-President of AANP. "We've made tremendous progress over the last thirty years, helping NPs gain full practice authority in 17 states and the District of Columbia. With a growing membership of engaged NPs, there's no limit to what we can do next."
The 50,000th AANP member is Jeanie Doom, an NP student from Eddyville, Kentucky. She is currently in an NP program at Frontier Nursing University. In addition to working on her MSN, Jeanie teaches nursing clinicals and is an online instructor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, KY., and works in the Emergency Department at Livingston County Hospital in Salem, KY. "As an NP student, I am honored to be a member of AANP and to be the 50,000th member to join. It is exciting to know I am entering a profession that is growing and advancing and has strong support from a national professional organization."
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest professional membership organization for NPs of all specialties. It represents the interests of the nation's 189,000 NPs, providing a unified networking platform, and advocating for their role as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered and personalized health care. The organization provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health care consumers.
SOURCE American Association of Nurse Practitioners
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