Nurse Practitioner Interview

Nurse Practitioner Interview
I spoke with a friend’s sister, a recent graduate DNP, who works as a women’s health NP at a public health clinic system in Utah.
Role
The role of the women’s health care nurse practitioner can vary widely depending on the setting. J. Yale sees patients for both annual visits as their main care provider and for gynecological issues (personal communication, September 9, 2016). “Many people don’t realize you can do annual visits,” she said, “for example, I can treat someone for high blood pressure in the clinic, in an office setting.” (J. Yale, personal communication 2016). The practice where Ms. Yale works has five different clinics, including a community clinic that serves a high-percentage refuge population, a clinic inside a hospital, and a clinic

In some of the clinics we are completely alone, no doctors. Other times NPs and doctors will be seeing patients side by side. Usually doctors are really open to consulting with the NPs, if the NP wants to make sure of something. We don’t report to them. We both prescribe meds, refer to other specialties as needed” (J. Yale, personal communication, September 9, 2016). The rest of the healthcare team works as we would expect, she reports – secretaries check people in, RNs take vitals and histories. In Texas this system would likely be quite different, as NPs have a restricted scope of practice and would not be allowed to work concurrently and independently with doctors.
References
American Association of Nurse Practitioners. (2016). State practice environment. Retrieved from: https://www.aanp.org/legislation-regulation/state-legislation/state-practice-environment.
Villegas, W.J. & Allen, P.E. (2012). Barriers to advanced practice registered nurse scope of practice: Issue analysis. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 43(9), 403-9.
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