Nurse Impact During the Pandemic

            Nurses have served an integral role in delivering healthcare solutions to patients throughout time in American history. Recently, though, the roles of nurses have transformed from simply caring for the sick or injured into becoming advocates for political and institutional change. With new perspectives nurses have been empowered to influence policy change that has the potential to enhance the entire health care industry.  Moreover, the introduction of corporate business practices into the healthcare sector has placed increasing emphasis on cost and profitability when addressing patient needs. These business forces have challenged at times the integrity of care provided, for cost of treatment becomes a primary factor in determining at times how the quality of service provided to patients. Given this new approach to treatment, nurse practitioners particularly have assumed greater prominence in delving treatment solutions, as their numbers increase and the number of primary care physicians has decreased (Hanson-Turton, 2014).

At the same time, the current health insurance framework that serves the healthcare system does not recognize nurse practitioners universally as being of equal stature and value as primary care physicians. Because of this in equity, not all patients with health insurance are able to realize the best care available for their needs, for insurance reimbursement systems do not always permit payment for treatment delivered through NPs. This lack of equal