Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in the United States are licensed independent practitioners who practice in ambulatory, acute, and long-term care as primary and/or specialty care providers. They are registered nurses with specialized advanced education and clinical competency to provide health and medical care for diverse populations in a variety of settings.

As primary care providers, NPs are proven expert patient-centered clinicians and the health care provider of choice for many people because of their unique combination of medical and nursing expertise and skills. NPs provide high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, and personalized health care to patients of all ages and across all segments of the population. What sets this exceptional group of apart from others is the unique perspective that NPs bring to health services by emphasizing both care and cure. The high level of satisfaction and confidence that patients have in NPs is evidenced by the approximate 600 million visits that are made to NPs every year.

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the leading professional institution engaged in the training, certification, and qualification of NPs. To mark its 25th anniversary in 2010, the AANP appointed Faircount Media Group to create its official commemorative publication for distribution to NPs in America.