The interest in nurse practitioner roles is growing globally and Google trends have indicated an increase in searches for ‘nurse practitioners’, trending upwards since January 2004 to the present. There was a significant peak in searches for this role in early 2020, at the commencement of the COVID–19 pandemic. The trend over the same period in Australia demonstrates even more significant growth, indicating an increase in the popularity of the nurse practitioner role. This article discusses the development of the nurse practitioner role in advanced practice.
Brandi Cole (2026) studied this question.