Tuesday: NP Week 2020 Take a moment to share with us "Who inspired you as a NP"?
Posted almost 5 years ago by Charrita Ernewein
Nationwide, almost 80 million people lack access to primary care.
As healthcare professionals serving patients of every age, nurse practitioners (NPs), are critical in ensuring that all members of our nation have access to quality health care. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2020), over 1 billion visits are made to NPs each year, with approximately 290,000 licensed nurse practitioners currently providing primary, acute, and specialty care to patients across the country.
WHAT NURSE PRACTITIONERS DO
Nurse practitioners provide a full range of care services to patients, including:
- Recording patient information such as medical history and symptoms
- Performing physical exams
- Ordering, performing, and interpreting diagnostic tests
- Diagnosing and treating diverse acute and chronic health problems
- Prescribing and administering medications and treatments
- Creating, contributing to, and managing patient care plans
Nurse practitioners are also skilled at integrating health promotion, disease prevention, counseling, and education into patient visits to help individuals (and their families) better understand their health. By doing so, they empower patients to make choices that lead to longer, healthier lives.
Nurse practitioners are in demand across the country, but especially in medically underserved areas, including rural towns and inner cities.
The role of a nurse practitioner involves providing health education and counseling, promoting good health, and preventing disease. In the healthcare industry, nurse practitioners are also essential for lowering health costs thanks to the services that they provide. Statistics show that patients who visit nurse practitioners tend to enjoy lower medical costs, shorter stays in hospital, and fewer emergencies with their health (AANP, 2020; New Nebraska, 2020).
The nurse practitioner role is one that is steadily growing throughout the country. Due to a nationwide shortage of primary care physicians, the need for good nurse practitioners to fill the gap has never been greater.
Just a quick update on what we do and why some of us do it. Now take a moment to let us know what or who inspired you to become a NP.
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My response to this is more of a what vs a who. As a Black female growing up in the inner city of Chicago I have seen healthcare disparities firsthand. Unfortunately, I have seen family members receive poor/insufficient care as they have battled cancer and other comorbidities. These are factors that inspired me to continue my education to become a nurse practitioner (Plus). I remain that healthcare liaison for my family members to help ensure that they receive quality health care regardless of their financial status or the color of their skin or even their educational level. My goal is to be a nurse practitioner for all people/patients but to also spotlight disparities with the goal of helping to overcome these disparities within all communities. Many providers fail to recognize their own bias that they carry, Enough Said!
The United States is home to stark and persistent racial disparities in health coverage,
chronic health conditions, mental health, and mortality. These disparities are not a result
of individual or group behavior but decades of systematic inequality in American economic, housing, and health care systems.
Alleviating health disparities will
require a deliberate and sustained effort to address social determinants of health, such as
poverty, segregation, environmental degradation, and racial discrimination.
African Americans or Black Americans.
An African American or Black person is any individual with total or partial ancestry
from any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
Health coverage
• In 2017, 10.6 percent of African Americans were uninsured compared with 5.9 percent
of non-Hispanic whites.
• 89.4 percent of African Americans had health care coverage in 2017 compared with
93.7 percent of white Americans.
– 44.1 percent of African Americans had government health insurance coverage
in 2017.
• 12.1 percent of Africans Americans under the age of 65 reported having no health
insurance coverage.
Chronic health conditions
• 13.8 percent of African Americans reported having fair or poor health compared
with 8.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites.
• Eighty percent of African American women are overweight or obese compared to
64.8 percent of non-Hispanic white women.
Center for American Progress | Fact Sheet: Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity
• In 2017, 12.6 percent of American African children had current asthma compared
with 7.7 percent of non-Hispanic white children. Forty-two percent of African
American adults over age 20 suffer from hypertension compared with 28.7 percent
of non-Hispanic white adults.
Mental health
• In 2018, 8.7 percent of African American adults received mental health services
compared with 18.6 percent of non-Hispanic white adults.
• 6.2 percent of African American adults received prescription medication for
mental health services compared with 15.3 percent of non-Hispanic white adults.
• In 2018, 3.8 percent of African American adults reported serious psychological
distress.
Leading causes of death
• The leading causes of death among African Americans are heart disease, cancer,
and accidents.
• African Americans have the highest mortality rate for all cancers combined
compared with any other racial and ethnic group.
• There are 11 infant deaths per 1,000 live births among Black Americans. This is
almost twice the national average of 5.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
• 11.4 per 100,000 African American men and 2.8 per 100,000 of African American
women die by suicide.
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