PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — As health care coverage begins to expand nationally, Oregon is among the states with liberal medical practice laws that allow licensed nurse practitioners to care for patients, order diagnostic tests and prescribe drugs without a physician’s oversight.
The Oregonian reports the popular image of the hospital-based nurse carrying out the orders of a doctor has changed immensely since the 1950s.
Now, many nurse practitioners have graduate training to provide much of the care traditionally offered by physicians.
Nurse practitioner training has also become the fastest and least expensive way to produce caregivers urgently needed in areas with a shortage of doctors. For the cost of training one doctor, nursing schools can produce at least three and as many as 12 nurse practitioners.
