The research looked at the billing information of more than 345,000 older patients with diabetes, a condition for which receiving quality primary care should reduce hospitalizations.
“Our data analysis revealed that older diabetic patients who received all of their primary care from nurse practitioners had lower rates of potentially preventable hospitalization than those who received primary care from physicians in nonmetropolitan urban and rural areas,” Yong-Fang Kuo, PhD, lead author and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston professor in the department of preventive medicine and community health, said in a statement. “There were no differences between patients cared for by nurse practitioners versus physicians in urban areas.”
Identifying the impact that nurse practitioners have on patients in nonmetropolitan areas is key, because there has been a shortage of physicians in rural areas for the past 30 years, according to the authors. Prior studies have demonstrated nurse practitioners tend to spend more time with their patients, follow-up more frequently and give more information than physicians do.
“These findings support previous research suggesting that nurse practitioners provide the same quality of clinical care as physicians,” Dr. Kuo said. “In view of the growing role of nurse practitioners in the US health care system, information on the quality of nurse practitioner care holds broad clinical and public health relevance.”
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