What is a Nurse Practitioner? | Tennessee Valley Urology Center

Have you ever seen a nurse practitioner for your healthcare needs? If not, you might not know about the benefits. Tennessee Valley Urology Center is pleased to introduce our patient community to Kristin Logsdon, APN, FNP-C, our in-office nurse practitioner. A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has also completed graduate-level education with advanced practice training. NPs care for a vast range of patients and perform many procedures. Nurse practitioners prescribe medications, order and interpret tests, offers hospital admission and discharge privileges and much more.

Today, many patients seek out a nurse practitioner for their healthcare needs. Why? In general, nurse practitioners offer a unique approach to patient care. The physician typically uses a disease-based or problem-based approach, which means the focus is more on diagnosing a problem and treating that problem. Nurse practitioners use an approach that is nursing-based. That means they are focused on their patient and his or her holistic environment and health. While NPs diagnosis and treat problems, they tend to incorporate treatments that also take a patient’s family, culture, lifestyle and community into account. This approach is much more proactive than reactive.

We find that a collaboration between nurse practitioners and physicians offer patients many benefits and a greater peace of mind. Having a nurse practitioner on staff helps us resolve a patient’s problems more quickly. We find that patient satisfaction is increased, and overall outcomes of treatment are improved when a patient is treated by a NP and physician together. Another benefit is our physicians gain more time for surgical cases and conditions that are outside the scope of a nurse practitioner.

Ms. Logsdon graduated summa cum laude from the University of TN, Knoxville, with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, where she was a member of the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. She continued her nursing education at UTK, maintaining a GPA of 4.0 working toward her Masters. She transferred to Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY, where she completed her Master of Science in Nursing.

Ms. Logsdon has received many academic honors including Bellarmine Graduate Faculty Merit Award, UT Chancellor’s Award, Extraordinary Academic Achievement, Tennessee Nurses Association Student Leader Award, UT College of Nursing Dean’s Student Advisory Board, University of TN Ambassador Scholar, Student Nurses Association President, UT Symphonic Band Principal Flute and Section Leader.

We are extremely excited about the new opportunities and knowledge that Ms. Logsdon brings into our practice. She will participate in a wide range of patient care to make our practice even better. Along with allowing patients same-day access to care, she will work side-by-side with our physicians to evaluate and treat patients with the highest degree of care. She will also help implement beneficial new programs and new care plans to further drive many of the quality initiatives which our practice is so passionate about.

You may reach Ms. Logsdon through the office at 423-472-3201. For further information about our quality care and urologic services, please visit our website. We look forward to speaking with you soon!