Becoming a nurse practitioner means that you’ll qualify for a higher starting salary no matter where you find a job. However, along with that higher pay rate, you need to be prepared for advanced responsibilities. You never get something for nothing, after all! So as a nurse practitioner, what do you need to know about the work?
Many of the tasks you’ll do on a day-to-day basis as a nurse practitioner are not much different from the tasks you’d do if you were just a regular registered nurse. You’ll still be responsible for taking patient histories, checking vital signs, helping patients prepare for treatments, talking to families, teaching patients home care instructions, relaying information to doctors, and doing other tasks for which you’ve long since received training.
Other daily tasks depend on the facility where you work. For example, if you work at a nursing home, your tasks could include helping patients bathe and eat, while if you work at a clinic, your tasks could include educating patients on medical conditions and disease prevention.
Unlike registered nurses, you can diagnose and treat patients who are dealing with minor medical problems. The extent at which you can treat patients depends on the state where you work, but all nurse practitioners are qualified to be the “point of entry” person at a health care facility. That means that you are the first person to see and evaluate a patient, making a decision as to whether or not the problem is serious enough to warrant seeing a doctor.
Not every medical condition can be treated by a nurse practitioner, of course. However, in all states, nurse practitioners are able to write prescriptions, and in most locations, nurse practitioners are qualified to treat fractures and lacerations, along with more insignificant medical problems.
One of the great things about becoming a nurse practitioner is that you’ll be able to devote at least some of your education to a specialization that you enjoy. Some of the most common specializations for nurse practitioners include acute care, geriatrics, pediatrics, adult care, neonatal care, women’s health, mental health, and family practice, but this is not by far an extensive list.
With your specialized education, you’ll learn how to treat more advanced medical conditions specific to patients in your area of medicine. This makes you even more valuable in the workforce, as you’ll be able to recognize and treat these problems, even when other nurse practitioners can’t.
In some states, nurse practitioners are able to operate their own practices, independent of medical doctors completely. These facilities can’t treat all problems, but can serve to treat patients with minor medical conditions, often at a much lower fee than found with physicians. As a nurse practitioner, you can also open a consulting business, where you work with a number of area medical facilities to improve health care in your community.
A nurse practitioner is an advanced practice nurse who provides primary and specialty care to patients. A nurse practitioner is responsible for administering both nursing and wider healthcare services; and, they are licensed to prescribe medications. Becoming a nurse practitioner requires the completion of a master's degree program. Below are the most popular colleges offering online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degrees.
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