"These states [without full practice authority] could update their laws today and that would be an immediate way to deploy nurse practitioners to the community and patients to have full and direct access to this care." — April Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, president, American Association of Nurse Practitioners The rise of the nurse practitioner (NP) has been phenomenal in the last two years, with the number of NPs growing from 270,000 to 325,000. Such growth is important to meet the needs of more than 84 million Americans who lack access to primary care, says April Kapu, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FCCM, FAAN, the new president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). In this week's lead story, I talked with Kapu about how NPs are changing healthcare, the likelihood of all states granting full practice authority to NPs, and what AANP members can expect from her for the next two years. | 