MD vs. NP

The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of physicians versus nurse practitioners and raise awareness for nurse practitioners amongst our generation. The role of nurse practitioners is continually growing in the medical field, especially with all of the current changes in healthcare. The research question investigated is “Is there a perceived difference among adult population with respect to use of physicians or nurse practitioners in a rural setting?” Our hypothesis is that older generations will prefer to see a physician while younger generations will prefer to see a nurse practitioner or have no preference at all. Some research has been done to show that nurse practitioners provide care equal to that of physicians. However, we want to determine if different age groups have different perspectives on care. We will distribute survey questionnaires that we have created to students, faculty, and staff ages 18 and older at a southeast university in a rural setting. These will be distributed to individuals who are and who are not related to the nursing program. IRB approval has been received. Informed consent will be obtained prior to distribution of the surveys. We have received permission to collect up to 800 survey responses which will provide us with a large sample size. The results we expect to achieve are to see whether a) nurse practitioners roles are understood by all generations b) determine whether physicians roles are understood by all generations c) determine whether our subjects prefer to be cared for by nurse practitioners or physicians based on subjects’ work status, insurance coverage, and various medical situations (i.e. emergency situations, annual check-ups, etc.). Upon completion of our research, we will present to our class in hopes of raising awareness for nurse practitioners. Our research will be completed for presentation by the time of the conference