What Happens When US Hospitals Binge on Nurse Practitioners (2)

This is the second installment of The Nurse Will See You Now, a series documenting how the increasing reliance on ill-trained nurse practitioners is imperiling US patients. Read part one here.

Dale Collier had never attended medical school. But as a nurse practitioner she was empowered to oversee patient care the same way medical doctors do. She was assigned to the overnight shift at Chippenham Hospital, a facility with more than 460 beds in Richmond, Virginia, where workers say staffing is light and pressure on providers is intense.

Chippenham is owned by HCA Healthcare Inc., the ...