Total number of NPs and physicians, six countries, 2005–2015 (or years available)
| USA | Canada | The Netherlands | Australia | New Zealand | Ireland | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NP | NP | MD | NP | MD | NS | MD | NP | MD | NP | MD | NP | MD | |
| Year | PA | R | R | PA | PA | R | R | R | R | R | R | PA | PA |
| 2005 | – | 106 000*† | 902 053 | 943 | 69 619 | – | 55 673 | – | 67 890 | 14 | 11 555 | – | – |
| 2006 | – | – | 921 904 | 1129 | 70 870 | – | 57 098 | – | 71 740 | 21 | 11 889 | – | 11 617 |
| 2007 | – | 120 000* | 941 304 | 1344 | 72 903 | – | 58 661 | – | 77 193 | 30 | 12 318 | – | 12 311 |
| 2008 | – | – | 954 224 | 1626 | 75 155 | – | 60 300 | – | 78 909 | 46 | 12 746 | – | 13 022 |
| 2009 | – | 130 000* | 972 376 | 1990 | 78 623 | 140 | 62 057 | – | 82 895 | 50 | 13 176 | – | 13 663 |
| 2010 | – | 140 000* | 985 375 | 2486 | 80 895 | 807 | 63 585 | – | – | 72 | 13 398 | 38 | 14 029 |
| 2011 | – | 148 000* | 1 004 635 | 2777 | 84 313 | 1272 | 65 568 | – | 87 790 | 91 | 14 021 | 97 | 14 814 |
| 2012 | 105 780‡ | 157 000* | 1 026 788 | 3157 | 87 306 | 1847 | 68 119 | 788 | 91 504 | 103 | 14 280 | 109 | 14 498 |
| 2013 | 113 370‡ | 171 000* | 1 045 910 | 3477 | 90 205 | 2124 | 69 942 | 1004 | 91 467 | 117 | 14 596 | 123 | 14 054 |
| 2014 | 122 050‡ | 192 000* | – | 3786 | – | 2480 | – | 1165 | – | 138 | 14 787 | 141 | 14 016 |
| 2015 | – | – | – | – | – | 2749 | – | 1214 | – | 157 | – | – | – |
Sources: authors' calculations, based on the following data sources (Dutch Nurse Specialist Registry. Unpublished data on Nurse Specialists (Verpleegkundig Specialisten), 2009 to 2015, received upon request. 2015),38–41 ,45 ,51–54 ,58–67 The OECD statistics on physicians are based on the following primary data sources: USA: AMA; Canada: CIHI; the Netherlands: The BIG register, Australia: AIHW, New Zealand: Medical Council Medical Register.56 ,57
Caveats: USA: ‡data on professionally active NPs do not include self-employed, hence underestimate totals,39 †year 2004 (in lieu of 2005 data availability) *data on registered NPs are estimates, exact numbers are not publicly available,38 the Netherlands: data on NS (NS, R) include ∼10 invalid cases per year used as test accounts (range 8–12) in the database that cannot be filtered out (estimated 8 cases yearly in 2009/2010/2011/2012 and 12 in 2013/2014/2015) (personal communication, with registry advisor at Verpleegkundig Specialisten Register, 29 January 2016), Canada: OECD data on MDs, based on two combined data sources, which may overstate the number of physicians, since interns and residents may be registered twice, Australia: break in OECD time series data on MDs in 2010, due to change of data holders.56 ,57
–, not available; AIHW, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; AMA, American Medical Association; CIHI, Canadian Institute for Health Information; MD, medical doctors/physicians; NP, nurse practitioners; NS, nurse specialists; OECD, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; P, practising; PA, professionally active; R, registered.