LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing Year of the Nurse White Paper Series - Nurse Practitioners Meeting Healthcare Needs for all Populations

Sep 21, 2026

LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing presents a Year of the Nurse position statement series focused on nurse practitioners (NPs) and their role in meeting healthcare needs. The paper explains how NP practice aligns with global health service initiatives and reviews the historical evolution of NP education from early training programs to doctoral-level preparation. It summarizes NP qualifications, certification requirements, and workforce data showing growing NP licensing numbers and broad practice across primary care and underserved settings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

History

Qualifications

Filling the Gap

Workforce Data

LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing celebrates the Year of the Nurse and Midwife with this position statement series to provide the public with information on the nurse ’s role within the health care environment, create public awareness regarding nursing’s contribution and impact in health care, and disseminate our nursing school’s contribution to workforce development and health care. Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Nursing Year of the Nurse White Paper Series: Nurse Practitioners Meeting Healthcare Needs for all Populations By Leanne H. Fowler, DNP, MBA, AGACNP-BC, CNE Latanja Divens, PhD, DNP, FNP-BC Jessica Landry, DNP, FNP-C Abby McNeil, DNP, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC Nanette Morales, DNP, NP-C, DipACLM Sherry Rivera, DNP, ANP-C Melissa Nunn, DNP, CPNP-PC Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Nursing Year of the Nurse White Paper Series: Nurse Practitioners Meeting Healthcare Needs for all Populations Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have been meeting the needs of patients with inadequate access to healthcare for over 50 years (American Association of Nurse Practitioners [AANP], 2020a) . As the physician workforce is strained by the volume of patient needs, burnout, and a lower output of physician graduates in primary care and specialty medical roles, NPs have served as primary care and acute care medical providers in some of the low-income areas in the U.S. and internationally (Frogner et al. 2020; Pohl et al. 2018). As the World Health Organization’s (WHO) proclaimed 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, NP practice is directly aligned with WHO’s initiatives to “play a vital role in providing health services” to communities worldwide (WHO, 2020) . The scope of this article will focus on NPs within the United States. History During the late 1950s and early 1960s, specialization in medicine began its expansion creating a shortage of primary care physicians. Rural areas were impacted the most by the expansion of medical education. Primary care physicians affected by the shortage decided to recruit registered nurses with clinical experience to collaborate with them in an effort to meet the primary care needs of families. In 1965 Loretta Ford, PhD, RN partnered with a physician, Henry Silver, MD, to create the first educational program for NPs at the University of Colorado focusing on family health, disease prevention, and the promotion of health (American Association of Nurse Practitioners [AANP], 2020a; Simmons University, 2020) . In 1967, Boston College initiated one of the first master’s program for NP education and by 1989 99% of all NP education programs were either master’s or post-master’s degree programs (American Association of Nurse Practitioners [AANP], 2020a). By 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) recommended, and was co-sponsored by the National Organization of NP Faculty (NONPF), to transition NP education and (all advanced practice nurses) to a professional clinical doctorate or practice doctorate – the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2004). As of April 20, 2018, the NONPF commits supporting all entry-level NP education programs’ transition to a DNP degree by the year 2025 (National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty, 2018). The evolution of NP education was inspired by the need to position and enable NPs to meet the growing demands of complex health systems and populations. Qualifications Since inception of a NP certificate program, NP education has evolved to doctoral level education with population-focused training in the areas of family practice (FNP), internal medicine (adultgerontology), pediatric, and women’s health (National Council of State Boards of Nursing [NCSBN], 2010) . The advanced education qualifies NPs to diagnosis and treat patients in the promotion of health and management of acute and chronic diseases across multiple settings

FAQs

How does the paper describe the need for nurse practitioners in healthcare?

It explains that NPs help address inadequate access to care, especially as primary care physician capacity is strained by demand, burnout, and fewer physician graduates in relevant roles.

What major developments in NP education does the paper highlight?

It traces the growth from early NP programs created in the late 1950s–1960s era to later adoption of professional clinical doctorates, culminating in support for entry-level NP education transitioning to the DNP pathway.

What workforce data does the paper provide about licensed NPs in the U.S.?

It states that as of December 2019 there are over 290,000 licensed NPs, outlines age distributions, self-reported demographics, and notes that most practice in primary care and care for substantial patient volume per hour.

Sep 21, 2026

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