"A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse (RN) who has advanced education and clinical training in a health care specialty area. Nurse practitioners work with people of all ages and their families, providing information people need to make informed decisions about their health care and lifestyle choices." (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners) Nurse Practitioners are usually primary care providers and can practice without medical supervision which distinguishes them from other clinical nurses. They do, however, usually establish a collaborative relationship with physicians to assure continuity of care via consultation and referral.

"Nurse Practitioners work in a variety of settings located in rural and urban communities. They work in private practices, ambulatory care clinics, HMO's, hospitals, public health departments, emergency rooms, nursing homes, free standing health clinics, womans' health clinics, school-based health clinics, rural health clinics and employee-health departments." (http://members.aol.com/What is a Nurse Practitioner?")

The nurse practitioner is authorized to prescribe drugs including controlled substances and therapeutic devices. To be eligible for prescriptive authority, the NP must be certified by a national nursing certification organization recognized by the Board of Nursing. In addition, the NP must have a signed written agreement with a physician defining the prescribing responsibilities of the NP and the categories of drugs the NP can prescribe.

Usually RN's have extensive clinical experience before entering into a NP program. The program itself generally requires "an intensive preceptorship under the direct supervision of a physician or an experienced nurse practitioner, as well as instruction in nursing theory." (American College of Nurse Practitioners)

The first NP program opened in 1965 at the University of Colorado. It was established to help improve childrens' access to health care. Today, over 200 university and college NP programs are educating RNs to provide direct patient care from newborns to the elderly. Now, over 70,000 NPs, have been trained."
(http://members.aol.com/arnpsn,"What is a Nurse Practitioner")

The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners administers competency-based exams for adult and family NPs. Those certified are noted by the designation "NP-C".