Every day, nurse practitioners (NPs) are saving lives and improving the health of our friends and family. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has elevated awareness of how NPs are essential to our health care system. To honor their heroic efforts, communities nationwide are joining in and recognizing the critical role of NPs as part of the annual National Nurse Practitioner Week (NP Week) celebration, held November 7-13 this year.
NPs provide a wide range of care to America’s patients in more than 1 billion visits annually. This year, the NP Week theme is “NPs: Going the Extra Mile,” which offers patients the opportunity to share their story about the positive difference an NP has made in their life. NP Week recognizes the contributions more than 325,000 licensed NPs make to the health of patients nationwide.
These health care professionals practice in clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care centers, nursing homes and private practices across the country — wherever patients are in need — and continue to provide front-line care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NPs assess patients, order and interpret tests, make diagnoses and provide treatment, including prescribing medications. As clinicians who blend clinical expertise with an added emphasis on disease prevention and health management, NPs are the health care provider of choice for millions of Americans.
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