Time and NP Practice: Naming, Claiming, and Explaining the Role of Nurse Practitioners

•Health care delivery models are changing.•Nurse practitioners (NPs) provide a unique model of care delivery.•Nursing philosophy and assumptions underpin NP practice.•NP practice is complex and takes time.•NPs are empowered to explain the unique contributions and outcomes of NP care.

This is a new era in primary health care with models of care focused less on number of patients seen per hour to one grounded in both patient satisfaction and outcome-based care. Nurse practitioners (NPs) are well positioned to achieve high marks under such criteria provided they can make the case for what they actually do. Nursing's profession-based philosophy of care underpins NP practice and contributes to good outcomes. Naming, claiming, and explaining the role of NPs are 3 actions steps that NPs are empowered to enact right now.