Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston recently revealed that patients who see nurse practitioners as their primary care provider receive care that is essentially equal to the primary care provided by generalist physicians.
The study, published in the September 2015 volume of the journal Medical Care, was one of the first of its kind to analyze comparisons between quality of care provided by primary care nurse practitioners and physicians.
In fact, Yong-Fang Kuo, lead author and UTMB professor in the department of preventive medicine and community health, explained that patients with chronic illnesses (in this case diabetes) in rural areas who saw nurse practitioners for their primary care had fewer amounts of preventable hospitalization than those who were treated by a generalist physician.
“Our data analysis revealed that older diabetic patients who received all of their primary care from nurse practitioners had lower rates of potentially preventable hospitalization than those who received primary care from physicians in nonmetropolitan urban and rural areas,” Kuo said in a UTMB press release. “There were no differences between patients cared for by nurse practitioners versus physicians in urban areas.”
What this means for healthcare
According to Kuo, these findings are important for the future of patient care as it relates to the healthcare shortage in rural areas.
“In view of the growing role of nurse practitioners in the US health care system, information on the quality of nurse practitioner care holds broad clinical and public health relevance,” Kuo explained.
Because nurse practitioners provide stronger care than physicians in rural areas, they can effectively take on some of the primary care patients to ease doctors’ patient loads. In theory, this would give better care to all patients involved. The press release explained that often in rural areas physicians have an extra-large number of patients, so they are not able to allot as much time to each individual. This also affects patient education and follow-up. On the other hand, nurse practitioners in rural areas typically have the ability to spend more time with each patient.
What this means as a travel nurse
Working as a travel nurse has multiple benefits such as compensation, flexibility and the ability to travel. Given the results of this study, there may be a slight variation in responsibility based on location as well. When choosing a travel nursing assignment, there are many opportunities to work in both rural and urban areas across the U.S.
For more information on travel nurse work destinations, contact Aureus Medical.