Roughly 47 percent of nurse practitioners who graduated in 2008 or later work in primary care, according to a 2012 survey recently released by the Health Resources and Services Administration.
This is up from 42.5 percent of NPs who graduated from 2003 through 2007, and reverses a nearly 20-year decline of NPs working in primary care.
"We are encouraged by the national growth of primary care nurse practitioners," said HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, in a news release. "HRSA is committed to continuing this trend to ensure an adequate supply and distribution of nurses for years to come."
Further, nearly all NPs — 96 percent — reported being in clinical practice, providing direct patient care.
"We would like to thank the HRSA for championing this survey and support its assertion that NPs play a critical role in extending access to healthcare," said Dave Hebert, CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, in a statement. "Analysis of the NP workforce and the challenges clinicians face is vital if we as a country are to overcome our tremendous healthcare delivery challenges."
Results from the survey are based on responses from nearly 13,000 randomly selected licensed NPs.
Note: This article was updated May 13 to correct the spelling of Dave Hebert's name, previously misspelled as Herbert. We regret the error.
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