As proclaimed by Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful, Rick Perry, it’s Nurse Practitioner week!
In celebration of National Nurse Practitioner week, here are some interesting facts regarding the profession:
- There are over 148,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) practicing in U.S.
- An estimated 9500 new NPs completed their academic programs in 2010-2011
- 93% of NPs have graduate degrees
- 97% of NPs maintain national certification
- 18% of NPs practice in rural or frontier settings
- 88% of NPs are prepared in primary care; 68% of NPs practice in at least one primary care site
- 87% of NPs see patients covered by Medicare and 84% by Medicaid
- 43% of NPs hold hospital privileges; 15% have long term care privileges
- 96.5% of NPs prescribe medications, averaging 20 prescriptions/day
- NPs hold prescriptive privilege in all 50 states, with controlled substances in 48
- The early-2011 mean full-time NP base salary was $91,310, with average full-time total income $98,760
- 60% of NPs see three to four patients per hour; 7% see over five patients per hour
- Malpractice rates remain low; only 2% have been named as primary defendant in a malpractice case
- Average NP is female (96%) and 48 years old; she has been in practice for 12.8 years as a family NP (49%)
|
Population |
Percent |
Years of Practice |
Age |
|
Acute Care |
5.6 |
7 |
45 |
|
Adult |
19.3 |
10.9 |
50 |
|
Family |
48.3 |
9.5 |
48 |
|
Gerontological |
3.2 |
11.6 |
52 |
|
Neonatal |
2.0 |
12.3 |
47 |
|
Oncology |
1.0 |
8.3 |
47 |
|
Pediatric |
8.5 |
13.3 |
52 |
|
Psych/Mental Health |
3.0 |
8.5 |
52 |
|
Women’s Health |
9.0 |
14.7 |
49 |
Sources:
AANP National NP Database, 2010-2011
2011 AANP National NP Compensation Survey
2010 AANP National Practice Site Survey
2009 AANP Membership Survey
2009-2010 AANP NP Sample Survey
Additional information is available at the AANP website www.aanp.org.
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