The American Nurses Association (ANA) has issued a statement in support of nurse practitioners working in independent practice and retail clinics.
This is in response to the American Medical Association's call for an investigation into the conflict of interest issues of these retail clinics allegedly by driving more business into their retail outlets by housing clinics staffed mostly by nurse practitioners and physician assistants under the supervision of a physician who is not required to be on site.
ANA's Code of Ethics for Nurses states that the nurse's first priority and commitment is to the patient and not to the employer. Under this code of ethics, the NP is expected "to preserve and protect the patient's right to make an informed judgement regarding health care." ANA supports nurse practitioners and believes they are a critical component to the American health care delivery system. They site the American Medical Association's own Journal (Journal of the American Medical Association)from January 2000 which reported the results of a study of patients who were randomly assigned to NPs or MDs within the same managed care group and found that patient outcomes were comparable.
The ANA believes in, and has called for, more community based care and preventative care such as that which is provided in these retail clinic settings. By studying the retail clinic setting they found that at least fifty percent of the patients seen in the clinics didn't have a primary care practitioner. It is quite common for the working class patients and family members attending these clinics to be unable to seek medical care until after work or after school hours or weekends when most primary care practitioners are unavailable.
The nurse practitioner's role in the retail clinic is to assess, diagnose and prescribe treatment under the supervision of a physician. The NP also educates and informs patients about their health status, preventative care and wellness issues. The ANA takes exception with the American Medical Association in regards to any suggestion that nurse practitioners would do anything less than put the needs of the patient first.
For more information see the American Nurses Association site.
