Are Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Using the Internet for Work Reasons?

by Jaime Brewster

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are using the Internet more for work reasons, almost as much as physicians do, according to Kantar Media’s Sources & Interactions Study – Physician Assistants/Nurse Practitioners Edition. The number of weekly uses of the Internet for professional purposes has steadily increased every year since 2011 for NPs and PAs, while physician usage has remained steady.

On average, the nurse practitioners and physician assistants participating in this study use the Internet around the same number of times for work reasons per week. However, nurse practitioners spend about 5 minutes more per session.

Looking at trending data for both groups, the number of times these healthcare professionals accessed the Internet for work reasons has increased by almost a full session (weekly) year-over-year. The time spent per session has decreased for PAs by almost a minute, but has increased for NPs. 

Kantar Media’s Sources & Interactions™ Studies offer a detailed examination of healthcare professionals’ online and mobile activities, e-detailing experience, and exposure to (and evaluation of) information sources including traditional and emerging media, pharma reps, CME, conventions and more. The Physician Assistant/Nurse Practitioner Edition, conducted every year, is designed to profile physician assistants' and nurse practitioners’ media use in these areas of interest to healthcare marketers and media professionals.

To find out more about the study and specialty-specific data, let us know.