This approach, experts believe, is what makes patient compliance rates with nurse practitioners so high. I always try to make sure that patients leave the office with a little bit of knowledge. In this age of managed care, patients have to take a much more active role in their care. Rogers said that the patients who are initially put off by seeing a nurse practitioner are often the same patients who have a more traditional view of medicine. But if they don't understand what their treatment is all about and don't comply with it, then they'll end up right back in the office with the same problem.
Most patients ultimately respond to the kind of attention NPs give.
Nurse practitioner Marilyn Dyer, who now works as a health care consultant, said that some of her old patients still call her. Sure, you do what you have to do from a clinical end to make sure that your patients get what they need, but what engenders patient loyalty is knowing that you care to go that extra step. A federal law that went into effect on Jan. 1 ensures that the role of nurse practitioners continues to expand. Under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, NPs can bill Medicare directly for their services, allowing them to treat more elderly patients. Goolsby takes her students to the Lincoln Neighborhood Service Center every week to treat low-income patients.