Providers issue brief: nursing shortages: year end report-2002.

According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report released in July of 2002, the national supply of full time equivalent nurses was estimated at 1.89 million in the year 2000, while the demand was estimated at two million. This reflects a nursing shortage of 110,000 or 6 percent. By the year 2015 the demand will accelerate and almost quadruple to 20 percent.

Providers issue brief: scope of practice and prescriptive authority: year end report-2002.

Nonphysician providers continue to achieve enhanced stature, in part by gaining more autonomy in prescribing drugs. There is growing support for the concept that the public health is best served by the broadest access to primary care along with the safe use of pharmaceuticals. The states continue in their efforts to find ways to promote the use of less specialized and less costly providers to help serve the ever-growing population who have access to health care services.