Primary Care Outcomes in Patients treated by Nurse Practitioners or Physicians: Two-Year Follow-Up
Abstract
This study reports results of the 2-year follow-up phase of a randomized study comparing outcomes of patients assigned to a nurse practitioner or a physician primary care practice. In the sample of 406 adults, no differences were found between the groups in health status, disease-specific physiologic measures, satisfaction or use of specialist, emergency room or inpatient services. Physician patients averaged more primary care visits than nurse practitioner patients. The results are consistent with the 6-month findings and with a growing body of evidence that the quality of primary care delivered by nurse practitioners is equivalent to that by physicians.
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Measurable clinical outcomes are systematically found to be equivalent to those produced by medical models, though patient satisfaction tends to be higher for nurse-provided services.
“Measurable clinical outcomes are systematically found to be equivalent11,18,19,23,27-32 to those produced by medical models, though patient satisfaction tends to be higher for nurse-provided services.11,19,21,26,27,29,30,33,34”
From Evaluating the cost of NP-led vs. GP-led primary care in British Columbia (2024) · cites this paper as [31]
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Evaluating the cost of NP-led vs. GP-led primary care in British Columbia
Contandriopoulos, D., Bertoni, K., McCracken, R., Hedden, L., Lavergne, R., & Randhawa, G. K. (2024) · Healthcare Management Forum · doi:10.1177/08404704241229075 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lenz, E. R., Mundinger, M. O., Kane, R. L., Hopkins, S. C., & Lin, S. X.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Medical Care Research and Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-09
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 332-351
- ISSN
- 1077-5587 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-6801
- OpenAlex
- W2162317664
- Cited by
- 278
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 12.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Medical Care Research and Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Nursing Roles and Practices
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Healthcare Systems and Technology
- Keywords
- nurse practitioners, primary care quality, health status, emergency department utilization, patient satisfaction, primary care visits, health outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Health Services Research, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, New York City, Nurse Practitioners, Physicians, Primary Health Care, Quality of Health Care, Chi-Square Distribution, Patient Satisfaction, Outcome Assessment, Health Care
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