For more than 60 years, nurse practitioners (NPs) have been providing primary, acute and specialty health care to millions of patients across the lifespan. NPs evaluate patients, order and interpret tests, make diagnoses, write prescriptions and bring a comprehensive perspective to health care in nearly 1 billion patient visits each year.

With a workforce of more than 461,000 licensed NPs across the United States, these highly educated, advanced practice providers can be found in clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care centers, nursing homes and private practices. As clinicians who blend clinical expertise with an added emphasis on health management, NPs bring a comprehensive perspective to health care and continually rise to meet our nation’s health care challenges.

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This NP Week, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) joins a grateful nation in recognizing NPs for their powerful work caring for their communities all across the country. Their ability to meet patients where they are —​ both geographically and across their health care journey — ​makes NPs essential to the future of health care.