Comparison of the Clinical Practice of a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner and Two Internists

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Abstract
The need to provide effective and cost‐efficient health care for the nation's elderly has resulted in the use of geriatric nurse practitioners (GNP) in a variety of settings. To evaluate the effectiveness of quality of the care provided by these clinicians and two internist geriatricians; a retrospective review of 800 patients followed over 6 to 24 months at a geriatric ambulatory care center was undertaken. Marked similarities were noted for both groups of patients. Both had a median age of 75 years, the majority were female and widowed. The most common diagnosis for both groups was dementia. In spite of their many problems, a large majority of all patients remained in the community at the end of 6 to 24 months of follow‐up care. This study suggests that with physician back‐up, GNPs can provide the elderly with high‐quality and cost‐efficient health care comparable to that of internist geriatricians.

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