Nurse Practitioners (ARNP
or NP) first came to existence in 1965 in order to improve access to health
care. Since then, Nurse Practitioners have provided health care
that improves access to all ages. Nurse Practitioners have advanced
education at the graduate level including extensive clinical work and
medical internships in primary care and specialized curriculum.
An ARNP
provides a range of primary and specialty services within a framework of
professional standards and is educated and trained to work independently in
patient care. Advocating health promotion and disease prevention, ARNPs
assess, diagnose, manage both acute and chronic illnesses, perform medical
procedures, act as First Assists in surgery, and prescribe prescriptions of
pharmacological and non-pharmacological modalities. "The weight of evidence
indicates that, within their areas of competence, NPs... provide care whose
quality is equivalent to that of care provided by physicians, " according to
the US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment.
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