By Jody Beckington, DNP, ACNP, CNRN
When I started at Mayfield Brain & Spine two decades ago, nurse practitioners were valued providers, consulting with our neurosurgeons to help serve our patients with compassion and excellent care. Today, we are able to triage patients, diagnosing their health challenges and launching their care plan. That autonomy is a good thing for Mayfield, a good thing for the health care system – and a great thing for patients.
As we recognize National Nurse Practitioner Week, we recognize that our profession has come a long way. More than 325,000 NPs are licensed in the U.S., including an estimated 36,000 new ones in 2019-2020 – but we need even more.
NPs now are widely accepted by patients as well as other providers. In three distinct ways, we are essential to health care delivery.
First and foremost, we are nurses. Our mission is caring for patients: listening, learning and nurturing them back to good health. Nurses always have been on the front lines of health care, providing holistic care. That has never changed.
Second, we strengthen a streamlined pathway to a complex level of care. At Mayfield, our 21 neurosurgeons spend hours in a single surgery, or consult a half-dozen times or more with a single patient to help create a solution to their brain tumor or spinal deformity. This creates a need that nurse practitioners are uniquely trained to fill. One example: When I see a patient, I can determine immediately if a surgical consultation is appropriate and take the patient directly to that surgeon. When one of our surgeons sees a referral from a nurse practitioner, they know there is an immediate need. That serves the patient’s overall care.
Third, as we transform the health care system to team-based care, nurse practitioners help enhance access, getting patients to the care they need more efficiently. Data clearly show two things: Patients get appointments more quickly, and NP recommendations mirror physician recommendations nearly every time.
At Mayfield, we continue to add nurse practitioners at all of our clinic locations. Our commitment to providing the best neurosurgical care to our patients – something Mayfield has done for 85 years – endures today.
Jody Beckington, DNP, ACNP, CNRN, has been a nurse practitioner at Mayfield Brain & Spine since 2005. She also is an assistant professor of Nursing at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.