Nurse practitioners seek patients? respect as more working in medical offices

The next time you visit your doctor’s office, it’s possible you could be seen by a nurse practitioner, not a physician. For routine care such as checkups and treatment of colds or even chronic conditions, nurse practitioners are being seen more and more in many places.

According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, a nurse practitioner ?has advanced education and clinical training in a health-care specialty area.?

Ernestine Kotthoff-Burrell, a 28-year veteran of the field and a faculty member in the School of Nursing at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, said a nurse practitioner (NP) is…