Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Nurse practitioners meet critical health needs
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Stacy Vernam
Vernam is a Radford University School of Nursing graduate student.
I am a registered nurse and a nurse practitioner student at Radford University. I have resided in Blacksburg over the past year in anticipation of entering the master's in nursing program at Radford. While I have really enjoyed living here, I have noticed there is very little awareness of the nurse practitioner role both locally and throughout the state.
With health care reform on the national agenda, primary care physicians in this area will need to elicit the aid of nurse practitioners to work collaboratively with them to care for the people of this community.
According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, "nurse practitioners are high quality providers who practice in primary care, ambulatory, acute care, specialty care and long-term care." However, people don't always fully understand the role of the nurse practitioner.
In my work as a nurse at Montgomery Regional Hospital, I see that the people of the community really believe in nurses and nursing care, but seem unsure of the advanced practice nurse. The Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners states that "nurse practitioners complete health histories and provide comprehensive physical examinations, diagnose and treat many common acute and chronic problems, interpret laboratory results and imaging studies, prescribe and manage medications and other therapies, provide health teaching and supportive counseling with an emphasis on prevention of illness and health maintenance, and refer patients to other health professionals as needed."
Chronic illness affects an alarming number of people in Virginia and across the nation. People do not receive the education and support they need to prevent illnesses or properly manage the ones from which they suffer. I frequently see stories in newspapers and on the television regarding shortages of primary care physicians, which mean patients cannot be seen in a timely way. This will further raise the rates of chronic disease.
The Centers for Disease Control reported that in 2007, 8 percent of adults in Virginia were diagnosed with diabetes, 19 percent of adults in Virginia are current smokers and 62 percent of adults in Virginia were overweight or obese. These are alarming numbers, and these conditions or lifestyle choices can lead to terrible complications. Nurse practitioners can help, by providing people proper education about risk factors and habits that can cause chronic disease, and they can help people do a better job of managing their diseases.
Nurse practitioner care is coordinated and integrated, in that it allows collaboration with multiple health care disciplines. The nurse practitioner views his patient as more than just a collection of symptoms, but as a whole person. Nurse practitioners are grounded in the idea that patients should be viewed in the context of their own family and community.
The people in our area need providers who are able to understand their unique needs. They need providers with whom they can forge a trusting relationship, something that is required to help people move toward health.
The public needs information about how well suited the nurse practitioner is in caring for people with low-risk conditions and stable chronic illnesses. As nurse practitioners remove the less complex cases from a physician's case load, it frees up the physician's time, so she can focus on more critically ill patients. This means better health care for all of us, something in which the community will rejoice -- excellent and easily accessible health care, right in our own community.
Nurse practitioners are ready to promote the health of the people in the New River Valley. With the media's help, we would like to show the community that we are able to provide them with the care that they need and deserve.
