NURSE PRACTITIONERS OFFER HEALTH CARE CONVENIENCE

Nurse practitioner Kathy Blevins conducted a patient interview at East Missouri Action Agency.

On a typical workday, Ferne Jamieson goes to the office at 8 a.m. She sees uncomplicated obstetrics patients, talks with them about appropriate lifestyles for pregnancy and evaluates fetal growth and well-being. She talks with patients about concerns they might have about their pregnancies and makes a special effort to make comfortable those who come with the patient, answering their questions and alleviating concerns they might have. A large part of her practice is centered on teaching the patients to take care of themselves as far as exercise, nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle are concerned.

Jamieson then moves into the next room to see a patient who has come to the office for an annual exam and pap smear, or she might counsel a woman who is going through menopause on some of the changes that she may be experiencing and help her understand this very important life stage.

In the course of conversation with these patients, should Jamieson pick up on a situation that is out of her scope of practice, she speaks with a doctor to get advice on how to handle the situation or refers the patient to a doctor.

Jamieson is a nurse practitioner associated with OB-GYN Associates. She is one of a few in a profession projected to be the wave of the future. USA Today last week listed nurse practitioners as number five in a list of professionals currently needed.

Local nurse practitioners agree that hardly a week goes by they don't receive telephone calls or letters concerning job opportunities.

Nurse practitioners practice under the Missouri Nurse Practice Act, which went into effect in August 1993. This law gives these professionals the authority to practice in an advanced role to provide services according to the individual nurse's training and qualifications. The nurse practitioner is required to work under a collaborative practice agreement with a doctor. The law grants these professionals the authority to prescribe drugs within their specialty. They may not write prescriptions for controlled substances.

One must be a registered nurse to enter a nurse practitioner program. The number of schools offering advanced programs for nursing is increasing. According to Dr. Mildred Roberson, professor and coordinator of the graduate program at Southeast Missouri State University, a large percentage of master-degree programs in nursing either already have a program in place or are in the process of adding one. SEMO is exploring the feasibility of starting such a program.

Jamieson completed the nurse practitioner program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Local nurse practitioner Kathy Blevins completed the program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and Nancy Mosley completed her training at St. Louis University.

Blevins is an advanced women's health care nurse practitioner for the East Missouri Action Agency, a community agency that is an administrative body for state and federal programs.

Mosley is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, where she sees sick and well children from 2 weeks old through 18 years old. If Mosley needs assistance or the patient requires hospitalization, she calls one of the 16 collaborating doctors.

Opportunities for the nurse practitioner are diverse. Mosley has worked on a Hopi Indian Reservation and for an health maintenance organization in Arizona, in public health in Kansas and Missouri and for a private pediatrician in Cape Girardeau.

Dr. Scot Pringle of OB-GYN Associates said having a nurse practitioner in his office works well. A problem that can be seen by the nurse practitioner will allow the patient to be seen quickly and get good care," he said. "If Jamieson is not comfortable treating a particular problem, she can walk across the hall and get advice on how to handle the situation. She has enough knowledge of female anatomy and female diseases to know something is wrong and whether she is capable of dealing with it."

Pringle believes the public should be aware that nurse practitioners are an economical approach to extending health care dollars.

"For convenience and economy I think it is a good thing for the doctor because it keeps patients from having to wait and a doctor is always concerned when his patients have to wait," he said. "For the patient it is good because of cost and convenience. It is good for the community because it provides a service that is not necessarily readily available.