Nurse Practitioner Week Recognizes Impact on Wyoming |
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Nov. 9, 2007 -- Nurse practitioners have made substantial contributions to the health of Wyoming's citizens, according to a study done by the University of Wyoming's Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing.
The 2004 survey of Wyoming nurse practitioners found they significantly impact primary care in the state. The study found that many served small communities with populations less than 10,000. Most of the NPs provided primary care in settings such as public health offices, school-based clinics, military bases, Indian Health Service, corrections, family planning, VA clinics, or OB/GYN offices.
Recognizing the excellent health care that NPs provide to the citizens of Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal recently proclaimed Nov. 11-17 as Nurse Practitioner Week, coinciding with National NP Week. There are 120,000 NPs licensed in the United States, and more than 220 NPs in Wyoming.
To be licensed to practice as an NP in Wyoming, applicants must have a master's degree in nursing from a program with an NP clinical focus and must have passed a national NP certification exam. Currently, UW offers a master's degree in nursing with two NP options: family nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
"While the family NP license has been available for 30 years, the psychiatric mental health NP option was recently developed to help with the extreme shortage of mental health providers in Wyoming," says Ann Marie Hart, UW assistant professor of nursing.
The mental health program began accepting students in 2005 and will graduate its first class of students in December.
For more information about NP education at UW, visit www.uwyo.edu/nursing. To learn more about National NP Week, visit the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Web site at http://www.aanp.org.
Posted on Friday, November 09, 2007
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