Who founded the Nurse Practitioner (NP) practice?

• A. Loretta Ford
• B. Isabel Adams Hampton Robb
• C. Florence Nightingale
• D. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Answer: (A)

The Nurse Practitioner role was created in the 1960s by Loretta Ford, a nurse who saw the need for advanced practice to improve access to primary care. She teamed with pediatrician Henry Silver to develop the first NP program at the University of Colorado, designed to train nurses with advanced clinical skills who could assess, diagnose, and manage common health problems in children. This milestone established the NP as a distinct advanced practice nursing role and laid the foundation for the modern NP profession.

Isabel Adams Hampton Robb was a key nursing reformer who helped advance nursing education and professional organization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, not the NP movement. Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing and set standards for nursing care and education, but she did not create the NP role. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is an influential organization for nursing education, not the founder of Nurse Practitioner practice.