Role/contribution of Nurse practitioners(NPs) in the Canadian healthcare system

Role/Contribution of Nurse Practitioners in Canadian Healthcare System
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Role/Contribution of Nurse Practitioners in the Canadian Healthcare System
When a country cares about its people, it enacts laws that will help ensure everyone receives appropriate care. Canada has been a country of many firsts, and their concern for their citizens led to the country introducing the primary healthcare nurse practitioners or PHCNPs. Apparently, PHCNPs are not new in Canada and have been in existent for the last 100 years (Donald, et al., 2010). Donald and his colleagues explain that the introduction of PHCNPs into the Canadian healthcare system did not happen until the early 1970s when the country was “experiencing a shortage of family physicians.” Their introduction brought about the need to define their roles, the education standards necessary for those operating as PHCNPs, the scope of practice, and finally, evaluation methods to be used to determine the effectiveness of PHCNPs. With regard to their roles, Donald et al. (2010) note that “collaboration with family physicians and other healthcare team members was an expectation of the PHCNP role and was integral to PHCNP role descriptions.” This article thus seeks to delve deeper into the roles of PHCNPs and outline the roles that were defined as a part of their job description.
The first role of PHCNPs in the Canadian healthcare system is to diagnose diseases. In any healthcare system, diagnosis is the first step towards any form of care. Doctors and nurses have to establish that a particular condition exists and then use their expertise to either refer the patient or prescribe medication. Everything starts with diagnosis, but it is crucial to note that for PHCNPs, their approach is person-centered. In her article, Sponagle...