A Day in the Life: Advanced Practice Nurses Providing Care to Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions: Preparation, Role, and Impact.

: Nurse practitioners (NPs) play an increasingly greater role in the delivery of orthopedic patient care. NPs practice in a wide variety of orthopedic settings having a significant positive impact on orthopedic care delivery. Few formal educational outlets exist for training NPs for orthopedic care. Many new orthopedic NPs rely on continuing education and an apprenticeship model of learning "on the job" with their surgeon counterparts. This article describes the preparation, role, and impact that today's NPs have on orthopedic care delivery.