Fewer and fewer young people are going into the medical field, so a growing number of patients are being treated by physician's assistants or nurse practitioners when they receive medical care. Kathy Baldridge is an educator and Health Policy Co-chair for the Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners and says this looks to be the model for many moving forward.
“I know the quality of care that we provide to our communities and when you compare apples to apples when it comes to health outcomes, those outcomes are equivalent,” Baldridge emphasizes. She notes that while nurse practitioners are viewed as a fairly new profession, they have been around since 1965 specifically to address the lack of access to care in some communities.
In some rural areas where it can be hard for people to receive quality care, Baldridge says being able to see a nurse practitioner can be a quicker and more convenient solution for those often underserved areas. “Having available, qualified healthcare providers within their community that they can access in a timely fashion will certainly improve health outcomes for all populations of people,” she went on to emphasize.
