Comparison Between Nurse Practitioner and MD Providers in Diabetes Care

The purpose of this evidence-based project was to determine if care given by a consistent nurse practitioner (NP) in a free diabetic clinic would match or exceed the voluntary but inconsistent care given by medical doctors (MDs) in attaining the American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines for the years 2004-2009. Results demonstrated the NP visits (n = 262) and the volunteer MD visits (n = 52) did not differ statistically for A1c, HDL, or LDL goal attainment. Ophthalmology and podiatry referrals and microfilament testing were somewhat more frequent in 2008 and 2009 for the NP provider versus the volunteer MDs.