FAQs

Here are just a few reasons:

• Nurse Practitioners have been shown to provide safe, comprehensive, and cost-effective health care services equal to family physicians.
• Nurse Practitioners place a significant focus on teaching patients about their health conditions and treatment recommendations.
• Nurse Practitioners listen to patients and strive to understand how their health problems are affecting them.
• Patients of Nurse Practitioners report very high satisfaction with the care they receive.
• Nurse Practitioners can improve access to health care.
• At the present time, there are hundreds of thousands of Albertans without a health care provider.
• In hospitals, Nurse Practitioners work with specialists and provide additional care to enhance recovery and a return to health.  They ensure that all of the patient’s medical and nursing needs are being met while in hospital, and can ensure adequate care will be in place after discharge. They are also known for their ability to communicate, teach and counsel patients and families in these settings.
• People who see Nurse Practitioners for their health care often have fewer emergency room visits, shorter hospital stays and lower medication costs.

Nurse Practitioners can complete comprehensive physical assessments, monitor growth and development of babies and children and teens, and can take care of most illnesses and conditions. If there are complex health problems or something beyond the knowledge, skills or abilities of a Nurse Practitioner, the Nurse Practitioner can refer you on to the appropriate health care provider. Nurse Practitioners want each patient to get the best care possible, and sometimes that means the patient needs to be seen by a physician. And in other cases the Nurse Practitioner may continue to care for a patient but in partnership with a physician and/or other health care professionals.

Nurse Practitioners can perform comprehensive physicals (check-ups), and take care of illnesses, screen for health problems, and manage chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. They can monitor the health of babies, children, adults, and the elderly, and treat their illnesses should they get sick. Some Nurse Practitioners can provide emergency care, and others take care of patients in hospitals, nursing homes, or in specialty clinics.

You will find Nurse Practitioners in hospitals, urgent care centers,   nursing homes, assisted living facilities, maternity clinics, community clinics, and doctor’s offices. Nurse Practitioners also work clinics in the community with a team of other health care professionals. However, the lack of a provincial funding model necessary to reimburse Nurse Practitioners for the care that they provide is limiting access to Nurse Practitioner care.

Currently, most Nurse Practitioners work in hospitals but more and more are beginning to appear in community and clinic settings.  Stay tuned!

1. Brooten, D., Youngblut, J.M., Kutcher, J., Bobo, C. (2004). Quality and the nursing workforce: APNs, patient outcomes and health care costs. Nursing Outlook. 52:45-52.

Laurant, M., Reeves, D., Hermens, R., Braspenning, J., Grol, R., & Sibbald, B. (2006).Substitution of doctors by nurses in primary care. Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. Retrieved from Web Site

Mundinger, M.O., Kane, R.L., Lenz, E.R., Totten, A.M., Tsai, W.Y., Cleary, P.D., et al (2000). Primary care outcomes in patients treated by nurse practitioners or physicians: A randomized trial. JAMA, 283(1): 59-68.

Ramsay, J.A., McKenzie, J.K. & Fish, D.G. (1982). Physicians and nurse practitioners: Do they provide equivalent health care? American Journal of Public Health, 72(1), 55-57.

2. Prescott, P.A. & Driscoll, L. (1980). Evaluating nurse practitioner performance. Nurse Practitioner. 1(1): 28-32.

3. Mundinger, M.O., Kane, R.L., Lenz, E.R., Totten, A.M., Tsai, W.Y., Cleary, P.D., et al (2000). Primary care outcomes in patients treated by nurse practitioners or physicians: A randomized trial. JAMA, 283(1): 59-68.

4. Horrocks, S., Anderson, E., Salisbury, C. (2002). Systematic review of whether nurse practitioners working in primary care can provide equivalent care to doctors. British Medical Journal, 324: 819-823.

5. Canadian Nurses Association (2009).Nurse Practitioner: Position Statement. Retrieved from Web Site

6. Kleinpell, R.M. (2005). Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Practice: Results of a 5-Year Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Critical Care. 14: 211-219.

VanOyen Force, M. (2009). Nurse Practitioners in acute care: Better outcomes, better care. Nurse Practitioners and PAs, 17(2): 37.

7.  American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2010. Nurse Practitioner Cost- Effectiveness. Retrieved from Web Site

*This is not an exhaustive list of references for these claims.