Comparison of Practice Characteristics Across Practices
| Characteristic | Practices With NPs (n=9) | Practices With PAs (n=9) | Practices With Physicians Only (n=28) | P Value | Total or Mean (N=46) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NP = nurse-practitioner; PA = physician’s assistant. | |||||
| a Values are numbers (percentages) of practices in each classiffication. P values are calculated using the permutation test with the Pearson χ2 test statistic. | |||||
| b Values are means (standard deviations) of the practice staff summary statistics. P values are based on analysis of variance. | |||||
| c P value are based on practices with either PAs or NPs. | |||||
| Practice classifficationa | |||||
| Number of physicians | |||||
| 1 | 1 (11.1) | 0 (0) | 8 (28.6) | .02 | 9 |
| 2–4 | 8 (88.9) | 4 (44.4) | 15 (53.6) | 27 | |
| 5–8 | 0 (0) | 5 (55.6) | 5 (17.9) | 10 | |
| Has a diabetes registry | 1 (11.1) | 4 (44.4) | 3 (10.7) | .08 | 8 |
| Uses nurses or health educators for diabetes counseling | 2 (22.2) | 2 (22.2) | 8 (28.6) | 1.00 | 12 |
| Counsels for physical activity, eating, and tobacco | 1 (11.1) | 0 (0) | 2 (7.1) | 1.00 | 3 |
| Counsels for physical activity or eating or tobacco | 1 (11.1) | 1 (11.1) | 5 (17.9) | 1.00 | 7 |
| Performs health risk assessment for physical activity, eating, and tobacco | 0 (0) | 2 (22.2) | 7 (25.0) | .33 | 9 |
| Performs health risk assessment for physical activity or eating or tobacco | 0 (0) | 6 (66.7) | 13 (46.4) | .18 | 19 |
| Has a reminder system | 6 (66.7) | 5 (55.6) | 15 (53.6) | .91 | 26 |
| Practice staff summaryb | |||||
| Total number of staff | 13.7 (4.4) | 30.0 (10.8) | 12.1 (9.4) | <.001 | 15.9 (11.3) |
| Number of NPs or PAs | 1.1 (0.3) | 1.9 (1.1) | 0 (0) | .02 | 0.6 (0.5) |
| Proportion of NPs or PAs | 8.8 (3.1) | 6.1 (2.4) | 0 (0) | .13c | 2.9 (3.4) |