Rear Admiral Susan Orsega, chief nurse officer of U.S. Public Health Service

Last week I attended the annual conference of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) in Denver. Yes, I was there for the record attendance (over 5,000) and the record heat wave (104 degrees). As with most large nursing conferences, there were numerous concurrent sessions—but here, many of them were like skills labs, including things not part of most RNs’ skill set, like performing a thoracentesis.

What was also different from other meetings was that the legislative and policy sessions, which were of high interest to me in order to find out how NPs are doing with scope of practice authority, were closed to media. No one could say exactly why.

Audio interview with U.S Public Health Service CNO Susan Orsega.

I did get a chance to speak with the keynote speaker, Rear Admiral (RADM) Susan Orsega, MSN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, chief nurse officer and assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service. She focused on the critical role of NPs in addressing health inequities. She urged NPs to become active advocates to improve health, and, mindful of our Colorado setting, she charged them to “Go, move mountains.” You can listen to a podcast of my interview with RADM Orsega below:

Audio interview with AANP president Knestrick.

I also had the opportunity to interview AANP’s current president, Joyce Knestrick, PhD, CFNP, APRN, FAANP. We discussed the rapid increase in numbers of NPs—she said that in 1999 there were about 60,000 and now there are approximately 234,000. She believes growth was spurred by the growing recognition of the value (high quality, lower cost) NPs bring to health care, especially if they practice to the full extent of their education and license. Currently, NPs can do that (practice independently, without physician oversight) in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, but still face significant opposition from physician groups. (See our report in the March issue, and a February article on state expansions of practice authority.) You can listen to our discussion below:

At the Denver meeting, the association launched a new advertising campaign, “We choose NPs,” which will include YouTube videos and a patient-focused website.