Primary care outcomes in patients treated by nurse practitioners or physicians: a randomized trial.
BACKGROUND
Studies have suggested that the quality of primary care delivered by nurse practitioners is equal to that of physicians. However, these studies did not measure nurse practitioner practices that had the same degree of independence as the comparison physician practices, nor did previous studies provide direct comparison of outcomes for patients with nurse practitioner or physician providers.


OBJECTIVE
To compare outcomes for patients randomly assigned to nurse practitioners or physicians for primary care follow-up and ongoing care after an emergency department or urgent care visit.


METHODS
Randomized trial conducted between August 1995 and October 1997, with patient interviews at 6 months after initial appointment and health services utilization data recorded at 6 months and 1 year after initial appointment.


METHODS
Four community-based primary care clinics (17 physicians) and 1 primary care clinic (7 nurse practitioners) at an urban academic medical center.


METHODS
Of 3397 adults originally screened, 1316 patients (mean age, 45.9 years; 76.8% female; 90.3% Hispanic) who had no regular source of care and kept their initial primary care appointment were enrolled and randomized with either a nurse practitioner (n = 806) or physician (n = 510).


METHODS
Patient satisfaction after initial appointment (based on 15-item questionnaire); health status (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36), satisfaction, and physiologic test results 6 months later; and service utilization (obtained from computer records) for 1 year after initial appointment, compared by type of provider.


RESULTS
No significant differences were found in patients' health status (nurse practitioners vs physicians) at 6 months (P = .92). Physiologic test results for patients with diabetes (P = .82) or asthma (P = .77) were not different. For patients with hypertension, the diastolic value was statistically significantly lower for nurse practitioner patients (82 vs 85 mm Hg; P = .04). No significant differences were found in health services utilization after either 6 months or 1 year. There were no differences in satisfaction ratings following the initial appointment (P = .88 for overall satisfaction). Satisfaction ratings at 6 months differed for 1 of 4 dimensions measured (provider attributes), with physicians rated higher (4.2 vs 4.1 on a scale where 5 = excellent; P = .05).


CONCLUSIONS
In an ambulatory care situation in which patients were randomly assigned to either nurse practitioners or physicians, and where nurse practitioners had the same authority, responsibilities, productivity and administrative requirements, and patient population as primary care physicians, patients' outcomes were comparable.
Mundinger
M O
MO
School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. mm44@columbia.edu
Kane
R L
RL
Lenz
E R
ER
Totten
A M
AM
Tsai
W Y
WY
Cleary
P D
PD
Friedewald
W T
WT
Siu
A L
AL
Shelanski
M L
ML
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000592:standards; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000592:standards; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D012044:Regression Analysis