This past November 9 through the 15th was a special week for nurse practitioners throughout the United States. This week was National Nurse Practitioner week and for this year’s theme, they chose ‘Your Partner in Health The Nurse Practitioner’. The healthcare community all over the country was celebrating and recognizing this position and doing all they could to promote it as a career choice for others. Indeed, it is a growing field which is experiencing greater opportunities for nurse practitioners to be more directly involved in patient care.

 

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has decided to take on further study in order to specialize in specific areas; these nurses have a license to perform many of the routine care tasks that may be required. They can write prescriptions, make routine diagnoses, and even run standard diagnostic tests. Nurse practitioners these days are very useful for doctors but there are also a number of nurse practitioner clinics in operation these days where primary care is provided for patients.

 

Appalachian Nurse Practitioner Clinic

 

Consider the Appalachian Nurse Practitioner Clinic in Dahlonega, Georgia as a great example of this phenomena. This clinic has been providing care to patients since 2006 and in that time, around 5,000 patients have been treated there. The clinic was set up to provide primary care for patients living in the area and was established with help from the HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration). The key to the clinic’s success lies in the fact that it can provide most of the same services one would find at a family doctor’s practice yet at a significantly lower cost.

 

There are more and more nurse practitioner clinics being opened in the country all the time and this is in order to meet the surging rise in demand for health care that is affordable. The HRSA is offering grants for further development of such clinics. The Appalachian clinic just received an additional $1.8 million to establish satellite clinics that would expand services outward. Providing affordable health care to those with financial difficulties is the main reason why the HRSA is continuing to support nurse practitioner clinics.

 

Canada is Seeing Much of the Same Happening

 

A lot of people would prefer it if we saw a more rapid growth in the number of nurse practitioner clinics in the US but north of the border, they are spreading like wildfire. A new clinic has just opened this week in Saulte St. Marie and this clinic can provide care for over 3,000 patients every year. The provincial government of Ontario has even developed a special program to encourage the establishment of such clinics in order to meet the healthcare needs of its citizens. It is these clinics which are starting to become part and parcel of the Canadian healthcare system.

 

Becoming a nurse practitioner is a wise career choice for individuals who enjoy the healthcare field. There are many different areas that you could specialize in such as urology, family practice, cardiology and pediatrics. And you will be pleased to know that you should not have any problem finding work because there is a nationwide shortage of healthcare workers at the moment. In this job, you will benefit from a fantastic salary as well as benefits and you will also have the added peace of mind of stability as well as job satisfaction from helping others.