NPs: Rising to Meet the Needs of Patients

National Nurse Practitioner (NP) Week, celebrated November 13-19, is an annual celebration recognizing the contributions of NP professionals. More than 355,000 NPs are licensed to practice in the United States and continuously bring vital solutions to patients in all community settings.

Some fun facts:

• The NP role was developed in the 1960’s as a response to the need for health care among rural and underserved populations. Our NPs here at Heartland continue in this spirit today!
• NPs practice and are certified by population foci: Family/individual across lifespan, pediatrics, women’s health/gender related, midwifery, adult-gerontology, neonatal and psychiatric mental health. NP scope of practice is not setting-specific and is based on the needs of the patient.
• NPs can obtain either a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree.
• In April, Kansas became the 26^th state to enact NP full practice authority.

Please join me in recognizing Heather Fogle, Clare Kuhn, and Andrea Becker at Heartland Community Health Center and Maggie Williams at our Panda Pediatrics location for all they do for our patients, community, and staff. We will soon be joined by Gilah Weissman in psychiatry, Tana Houghton in family practice/pediatrics, and RNs Hailey Stucky and Josh Simmons are studying to become NPs.