Two Yale University faculty members recently were honored for their contributions to advanced practice nursing by a national nurse practitioner group.
Associate Dean Barbara Safriet of Yale Law School and Associate Dean Margaret Grey of Yale University School of Nursing were recognized by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties.
Grey received the organization’s Achievement in Research Award in recognition of her work to help children cope with diabetes. She has been a leader in demonstrating the role of psychosocial support in improving metabolic control of the disease as well as in raising quality of life.
A widely published researcher, Grey was the first non-physician to chair the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions Committee. She recently was appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to serve on the National Institute for Nursing Research’s Advisory Council, which helps set federal priorities for nursing research. Grey is the Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing at Yale and associate dean for research affairs at the School of Nursing.
Safriet was the first recipient of the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. An expert on the regulation of health care providers, Safriet has frequently written about the role of the nurse practitioner. She is an advocate for regulatory change that would allow NPs to expand their scope of practice and access to patients.
Safriet is a former member of the Congressional Advisory Panel on Medical Workforce Reform. In addition to her work in health law, she has done extensive work on gender discrimination and regulation within the legal profession. Safriet served as project co-director for a Rockefeller Foundation initiative to develop a public health law curriculum for China.
Nurse practitioners are clinicians who provide many of the primary care services generally associated with physicians, such as giving physicals and prescribing medications. Operating under the nursing model of care, they often favor lifestyle changes over drugs to solve health problems. They emphasize patient education and holistic care in their practice. Nurse practitioners are educated at the graduate level, usually holding master’s degrees. Some work closely with physicians while others practice more independently, depending on regulations, which vary from state to state.
