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				              CONTACT: Katherine Jackson		


                   U.VA. EDUCATING MORE FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONERS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., Sept. 8--Thanks to a University of Virginia 
faculty development program, the only one of its kind in the state and the 
third in the country, the number of nurse practitioners caring for 
underserved communities in Virginia will increase.
	"More nurse practitioners are needed to fill the major gaps in health 
care resulting from the shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.  
Virginia, with 74 out of 131 communities designated as medically underserved, 
must increase the number of primary care specialties" says Julie Novak, 
professor of nursing and director of U.Va.'s family nurse practitioner 
program. 
	By May 1996,the conclusion of U.Va.'s program, the institution will 
be a leader in the expanding discipline of graduate nurse practitioner 
programs.  "More of the faculty will be certified as nurse practitioners than 
at any other school of comparable size in the country," Novak says.  The 
one-year,intensive post-master's program began in Jan.1995 when regular 
classes were not in session.
	Nurse practitioners, who make up about 30 percent of the 150,000 
advance practices nurses, are registered nurses with specialist training, 
usually at the master's level.  Registered nurses have either two-year 
associate's degrees, three-year diploma or a four-year bachelorUs degree.
	According to the American Nurse Association, nurse practitioners can 
provide,for less money, 60 to 80 percent of the primary and preventive care 
that was traditionally provided by family physicians.  To further document 
their effectiveness, their competence to practice safely and effectively was 
fully endorsed recently by the U.S. Congress Office of Technology and 
Assessment.  The report cited 12 studies which showed that the relative 
quality of care given by nurse practitioners was equal to that given by 
physician.
        Since the nurse practitioner program was initiated in 1965, 
malpractice cases involving them has accounted for less than one percent of 
all medical malpractice cases.
	At the School of Nursing, 11 out of 50 faculty members are nurse 
practitioners.  Seven U.Va. faculty members, and one each from Piedmont 
Virginia Community College, Lynchburg College and James Madison University 
are enrolled in the development program.
	Presently several U.Va. nurse practitioners provide care in 
underserved areas of the community--Crescent Hall Nursing Clinic, Westhaven 
Nursing Clinic and the Greene County School Clinic.  The Page County primary 
care consortium, in conjunction with the U.Va.'s Area Health Education Center 
established a clinic that is supported by a family nurse practitioner.  And 
nurse practitioner students are being trained by local health care providers 
in rural counties surrounding southern Albemarle.
		"The purpose of this program is to prepare faculty as family 
nurse practitioners and as educators who will be qualified to teach in nurse 
practitioner programs," Novak says.  
                                      
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                                              September 8, 1995