Spotlight on NPs highlights exciting achievements and activities of American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) members.
AANP President Dr. Joyce Knestrick was quoted in a Health Analytics article about ways that NPs and PAs add value to health care teams. According to Knestrick, ““We have over 244,000 NPs in the US today, and almost 80 percent practice in primary care,” she explained. “A large percentage of those in primary care practice in rural and underserved areas. Coming from a nursing model, holistic care, prevention and health promotion are always the tenets of our profession.” Knestrick also authored a blog for 30 Seconds on childhood vaccines.
AANP Montana State Representative Keven Comer was quoted in a local news article that educated the public about dangers associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Komer said, “For my patients, I usually tell them that for a woman you should have less than one drink a day or a maximum of seven drinks in a week or no more than two drinks in a setting. For men, it’s fourteen drinks in a week or it’s two drinks in a setting and no more than three drinks at a time.”
Congratulations to AANP Fellow Dr. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, who recently accepted a Pitzer Family Foundation pledge of $3 million to The Ohio State University College of Nursing in memory of former faculty member and alumna, Dr. Martha S. Pitzer. In recognition of Dr. Pitzer’s passion for women and children’s health and pending The Ohio State University Board of Trustee approval, the family’s gift will establish the Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children and Youth, and fund research targeting improvement of health and well-being outcomes of vulnerable populations. Learn more.
Purdue University School of Nursing featured AANP Fellow Dr. Nancy Edwards in an article about her dual role as impassioned teacher and caregiver. According to the article, Edwards’ “enthusiasm and dedication to her students and patients has brought repeated accolades,” including the AANP State Award for Excellence.
Congratulations to AANP member Merrily Mount, who is retiring after 45 years in the health care field. Learn more about her exciting career.
A real world comparison of diabetes care by provider type was conducted by AANP member Patricia Marin, among others, and featured in an article for Cleaveland Clinic. Marin said, “When you look at busy internal medicine practices, there are a lot of issues surrounding access to care. Our research validates that nurse practitioners not only help improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, but also can help offset some of the workload of busy physicians, allowing them to see more high-acuity patients.”
“Public health always has been the safety net for those in our communities, large and small, where there are often few other options available. To say that direct client services are no longer needed in these communities is, at best, misinformed; at worst, it betrays mixed-up administrative priorities,” wrote AANP member Candace Norris in an Op-Ed for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Read more.
AANP member Peggy Akers was featured in a local news article after being named the AANP 2018 NP State Award for Excellence recipient in Maine. After serving as an Army nurse in Vietnam, Akers became a nurse practitioner and cared for a variety of underserved populations. According to the article, Akers indicated that “it is her good fortune to have made a career of aiding people in distress as a nurse practitioner.”
An article about Clemson nursing students who spent Spring Break providing health care in the Dominican Republic quoted AANP member Bailee McCarley. The experience was momentous, according to McCarley, who did not know much Spanish prior to the trip. McCarley said, “Everyone knows what that smile is. It hit me. All these things are universal.”
AANP member Evan Minior helped bust three wound care myths in an article for Cleveland Clinic. Readers learned how to clean wounds, whether a wound should be covered, and whether a wound should be kept dry. According to Minior, “If a clinician has treated your wound but your condition hasn’t improved in 90 days, you should consider getting a second opinion…”
A study abroad program provided health care to patients in Tanzania. AANP member Andrea Knopp serves as the program coordinator and said, “Every year I go, it changes me. I think I see more clearly through the students’ eyes. It creates a drive in me to try to do the things that are going to be the most helpful to the Tanzanians rather than what I think they need. The most important aspect of the trip is learning to think outside yourself.” Read more.
Congratulations to AANP member Heather Mason, who was recently selected to join the American Health Council Nursing Board. Read the press release.
An article about hyperbaric oxygen therapy quoted AANP member Christopher Nelson. “We use the hyperbaric oxygen therapy to try to regenerate tissue growth so that we have an improvement in the bone in that area and is also a regrowth of the tissue in that area. Hyperbaric oxygen is a therapy where we put a patient into a chamber where they receive 100% oxygen at pressures higher than the ambient atmosphere. Typically we use pressures of two to three atmospheres,” said Nelson.
Dr. Linda Summers and Dr. Stephanie Lynch, AANP members and co-authors of a study on stress-reduction aids for teens, were quoted in a news article about a program at New Mexico State University that implemented the use of sleeping pods to reduce stress in nursing students. According to the report, their research “focused on the use of two stress reduction devices – the EnergyPod and the SleepWing. Both devices provide users with a place to relax and sleep.”
