Historical Development of the Nurse Practitioner Role

¶ … Np

Loretta Ford was a revolutionary in her time. She took a chaotic period of social and political unrest and used it in order to spearhead new directions for modern nursing. She helped recreate the role of the NP in a much more clinical context. The clinical emphasis of the clinical field was opened up for a new generation of nurses to expand their roles and become much more powerful within the operation of the health care system. The 1960s also saw some uniquely difficult challenges in the health care industry. During the time, the needs of the system were changing. There were more people in greater need. Physician shortage in an era that was demanding greater levels of care and opening up the "opportunity to advance nursing through education and an expanded role in healthcare" (American Academy of NPs, 2005). This increase in clinical emphasis helped empower the modern nurse in a more realistic role. Turmoil creates opportunity and "risk the currency of tumultuous times" (American Academy of NPs, 2005). Health care adopted the spirit of social change and evolution in a way to solve a practical problem in the structure of the nation's health care system. Thanks to risk takers like the pioneer Dr. Ford, the modern nurse now cares and about people. The early researched personality traits of nurse practitioners revealed they were risk takers who question traditional methods and create change through a more clinical education. Dr. Ford believes that additional knowledge helps nurses to make more efficient to serve modern healthcare demands. Knowledge through a more clinical education empowers them to make innovative and effective decisions in the field. Thus, modern NPs help change "an illness oriented system to a wellness oriented system" (American Academy of NPs, 2005). Today, the primary role of the nurse practitioner is to care for and about people "and in order to do that you have to make some very sophisticated clinical decisions" (American Academy of NPs, 2005).

Part II

There are a number of points present in the IOM report, yet some are more personally appealing than others. Again, we are in a current state of chaos. Out of the turmoil that has been the healthcare reform process an opportunity is now being created. The report suggests that "The health care system is in the midst of great change as care providers discover new ways to provide patient-centered care; to deliver more primary care as opposed to specialty care; and to deliver more care in the community rather than the acute care setting" (Institute of Medicine, 2010). The healthcare system has to change; it is being forced to by government regulation. As such, there is an ongoing evolution of the health care industry that presents opportunities for new risk takers to challenge the old, out dated system in the rebuilding of an entirely new one. The sheer level of opportunities presenting themselves is incredibly exciting to any nurse practitioner, as well as everyone working in the health care industry in general.