How do you choose an obstetrician? Most people open the yellow pages and scan through the physician section or they ask their insurance provider for a list of physicians that are included in their plans.

What most women don't realize is they may be overlooking another category of professionals who can provide excellent, holistic, integrated primary health care: family nurse practitioners.

Tracy Boland of Eagle Point, Ore., works for a pharmaceutical company and has chosen a nurse practitioner as her primary care professional. "From a patient's standpoint, nurse practitioners offer good, old-fashioned 'bedside manners' in tandem with high quality, comprehensive health care," she says.

Nurse practitioners (NPs) have been around for more than 30 years and have traditionally worked in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, schools, nursing homes and alongside doctors in private practices.

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