Where are nurse practitioners needed the most?

Answer 1

Nurse practitioners are needed the most in areas that have few doctors. Areas that are very rural, especially small towns with just a few thousand people, rarely have physicians available. Nurse practitioners are needed in these places and can provide medical care to people who might otherwise have none.

Answer 2

I'm seeing a rise in NP employment in a variety of settings. Larger specialist practices are using NP's for histories and primary consultation with the patient, where they'll often be the first line of contact in non-emergency communication with the patient, and will handle the front end work for the doctor. I also see PA's in ER's more and more. In times of heavy traffic they're often assigned to evaluate non-acute or perform triage. In rural areas, I've seen NP's who will be handling primary (and sometimes sole) health care for large, thinly populated geographic regions. NP's will also frequently become invovled in training of other nurses, first responders, and at times doctors (I knew one NP who trained doctors in the front end of care for acute neuro-trauma -- she knew that picture better than anyone else I've ever met, including many neurologists). I personally think that the addition of the NP and Physician's Assistant (PA) designations is a tremendous improvement to the American health-care picture. In my state, after two years of experience working under a doctor's supervision, an NP may open their own primary care practice. Given nursing's slightly different focus, this may actually be beneficial to patients.

Answer 3

"Nurse practitionar work is needed in inpatient and intensive outpatient rehabilitation programs, in independent doctors offices, in certan hospitals, and more."