‘We Enrich the Health Care System’: NP Speaks About the Meaning of National NP Week

National Nurse Practitioner Week, happening from November 12-18 this year, is held annually to “celebrate these exceptional health care providers and to remind lawmakers of the importance of removing outdated barriers to practice so nurse practitioners (NPs) will be allowed to practice to the full extent of their experience and education,” according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).

Anastasia Marie Santiago, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP, the Supervisor of Advanced Practice Providers and a Malignant Hematology NP at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, shared what National NP Week means to her. “It solidifies that we belong here, and we need to be here,” she said.

Dr. Santiago told Cancer Nursing Today that the week is a “necessary and wonderful” way to acknowledge the critical role of NPs.

“NP Week is so important because it continues to show the nation, the world—however you want to see it—that we are an important part of the interdisciplinary team,” Dr. Santiago said. “There is no going back. If you were to take nurse practitioners out of every hospital, clinic, [emergency room], urgent care, the world would fall apart.”

There are more than 355,000 licensed NPs in the United States, and 36,000 new NPs completed their academic programs in 2020 and 2021, according to the AANP. Dr. Santiago highlighted the diverse roles that NPs fulfill, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of the profession.

“We can do so many things from leadership to bedside care, to running clinics,” Dr. Santiago said. “We’re churning out beautiful leaders that are able to help patients in so many ways, and we enrich the lives of our patients. We enrich the health care system.”

Dr. Santiago explained how nurse practitioners are uniquely positioned to care for patients and why the role is so important to care teams.

“We are this wonderful, blended role of both provider and supportive staff… we’re able to see a patient in a 360-view [and] see things that maybe other people don’t see,” Dr. Santiago said.