National Nurse Practitioner Week - Celebrating 50 Years of NP Excellence

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nurse practitioners (NPs) have a special reason to celebrate National Nurse Practitioner Week, November 8 – 14, 2015. Fifty years ago, at the University of Colorado, the first NP program was established. And 50 years later, there are more than 205,000 NPs licensed to practice in the United States.

"All across the country, nurse practitioners are serving as a lifeline for patients, many who would otherwise struggle to access care," said David Hebert, Chief Executive Officer of AANP. "It is our hope that these patients, as well as their families, employers and legislators, will join us in recognizing and honoring the national nurse practitioner community throughout this milestone 50th anniversary year."

NPs are licensed, expert clinicians with advanced education (most have master's and many have doctorate degrees) and extensive clinical preparation who provide primary, acute and specialty health care services. In addition to providing a full range of services, NPs work as partners with their patients, guiding them to make educated health care decisions and healthy lifestyle choices. The confidence that patients have in NP-delivered health care is evidenced by the more than 916 million visits made to NPs every year.

National Nurse Practitioner Week, November 8-14, 2015, is a time to celebrate these exceptional health care providers and to remind lawmakers of the importance of removing outdated barriers to practice so that NPs will be allowed to practice to the full extent of their experience and education and that patients will have direct access to all the services NPs are educated and certified to provide. Nurse practitioners are informed, in touch and involved, making them the health care providers of choice for millions and a solution to the health care crisis in America.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of more than 205,000 NPs, including more than 65,000 individual members and 200 organizations, providing 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.

For more information visit www.aanp.org. To locate an NP in your community, go to npfinder.com.

SOURCE American Association of Nurse Practitioners

Related Links

http://www.aanp.org