A Description of a Means of Improving Ambulatory Care in a Large Municipal Teaching Hospital: A New Role for Nurse Practitioners

We describe a nurse practitioner program that has improved ambulatory care in a large municipal teaching hospital. The significant feature of this program is an expanded role for nurse practitioners in the follow-up of patients with complicated illnesses. Benefits of this program include improved continuity of care and an easing of the house staff's service burden. Similar use of nurse practitioners at other municipal teaching hospitals would be a useful approach to problems in quality of care and continuity of care.