Hay River (Mar 03/03) - There are new initials to learn for people seeking medical care in Hay River.

They can now see an MD, an RN or an NP -- meaning a nurse practitioner.

As of January, nurse practitioner Karen Benwell began working at the Hay River Medical Clinic.

A nurse practitioner is a medical professional with a skill level between that of a nurse and a doctor.

Benwell is one of the first three graduates of a 16-month nurse practitioner program offered in Yellowknife by Aurora College. The first class earned their certificates in December 2002 and her two classmates are now working in Yellowknife.

"I just decided it was time to have the educational background to act independently," says Benwell, who began nursing in Fort Smith 30 years ago.

She says it has been very exciting in her new role at the clinic.

"I see patients on a walk-in basis," she says, adding she is also setting up a client list.

And she plans to establish a weekly women's health program.

Benwell, who worked at the Hay River hospital before taking the NP course, says there has been some degree of understanding of her new role, and no one has asked to see a doctor instead.

"It's been wonderful," she says.

Madge Applin, the director of patient and diagnostic services with the Hay River Community Health Board, says NPs have an established scope of practice.

In addition to the duties of RNs, nurse practitioners can make diagnoses about some conditions, order some X-rays, order and interpret some diagnostic and lab tests, make independent decisions about certain conditions, and will soon be able to independently prescribe some drugs.

"It's definitely more responsibilities and a wider scope of practice," Applin says.

She explains nurses in rural and remote communities have carried out such roles for many years.

"What is new is there is a move across the country to formalize the role and provide appropriate education and legislation," she says.

Applin says what was once identified as a role for remote and rural areas is now being seen as valuable for larger centres.

However, she says the educational opportunities were not always available for RNs to become NPs.

She credits Aurora College, the GNWT and the NWT Registered Nurses Association for their insight in offering those educational opportunities. "That's incredibly important."

NPs help free up physicians to concentrate on serious illness, she notes. "It makes a fabulous team. It's about one working with the other."

Applin cautions people should not look at nurse practitioners as a way to deal with the physician shortage in the NWT. "It's not about replacing physicians."

Instead, she says NPs are another way to deal with the needs of patients.