美國護理執業師的角色

The Roles of Nurse Practitioners in the United States

護理執業師獨立執業或與醫師合作在美國已行之有年，但在台灣仍處於啟蒙階段。美國護理執業師是註冊護士在其基本的護理教育之後，接受進階式的教育與臨床訓練。護理執業師是初步的健康照顧提供者，具備合法授權與合格的進階護理技術，以提供醫療與護理服務予個人、家庭、群體及社區。在此篇文章中，介紹目前美國護理執業師之人力現況，詳細描述美國護理執業師之角色與職責，比較其與臨床專科護理師的角色不同之處以避免混淆，並指出美國護理執業師執業的主要阻力與助力。許多民眾不熟悉護理執業師所提供的初級健康照顧服務，因為他們對於護理執業師的角色與功能並不清楚，護理執業師必須運用各種不同的媒體向社會大眾介紹其服務項目和教導民眾如何取得這些健康照護資源。Nurse Practitioners (NP) have been practicing independently or collaboratively in the U.S. for years, but in Taiwan they just started from the beginning. A NP is a registered nurse with advanced education and clinical training beyond the basic nursing education in the U.S.. A NP is also a primary health care provider who is legally authorized and qualified with advanced practice skills to provide medical and nursing services to individuals, families, groups, and communities. In this article, the present U.S. NP workforce and NPs’ roles and responsibilities are introduced. Comparing the differences between NPs’ roles and that of Clinical Nurse Specialists are necessary to avoid blending them. Some major barriers and facilitators of NPs’ practice have been identified. Many people are unaware of the primary health care services provided by NPs since they are not familiar with the roles and functions of NPs. NPs can utilize various media and introduce to the public NP’s roles and educate people how to have access to these health care services.