They’re celebrating nurse practitioners at Northumberland Hills Hospital this week (Nov 10-16).
The growing role of nurse practitioners in the health care system in Ontario is shown in the numbers: There are over 3,700 people licensed to practice in this province alone, and eight of them are currently providing patient care at Northumberland Hills Hospital.
A nurse practitioners’ role is instrumental to the health care sector as a whole and, increasingly, to the delivery of care at NHH by improving access to primary care, decreasing appointment wait-times, providing patient-centered care, and more.
NPs are registered nurses with advanced education and training that allows them to provide primary, acute, and specialty health care in a variety of settings.
This additional experience means nurse practitioners can perform physical exams, order tests, diagnose and treat illnesses, write prescriptions, and provide referrals.
They are also involved with admitting and discharging patients from the hospital.
The role of a nurse practitioner is expanding not only across the province, but at NHH, where NPs now work in both outpatient care in the Emergency Department, and inpatient care in the Medical/Surgical Unit, Inpatient Rehabilitation and Restorative Care.
Having nurse practitioners working in these departments fills a need for both patients and staff.
