The Nurse Practitioner Revisited

Abstract

ON January 19, 1978, the Journal published a study by Perrin and Goodman that assessed the performance of nurse practitioners.1 It clearly demonstrated the superiority of nurse practitioners in providing one important part of primary care — telephone management of children's health problems. Looking back, that was one of the last rigorous studies published on the safety, effectiveness, and quality of the work of nurse practitioners. The array of scientifically admissible evidence that accumulated throughout the 1970s strongly suggested that the new use of allied health professionals as physician substitutes or copractitioners in primary care did not pose any threat . . .