Nurse Practitioner Career
|
Post
Nursing Jobs
&
Health Care Jobs.
Nurse Practitioner:
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are highly skilled
advanced practice nurses who have completed a
Master's Degree in Nursing. NPs have expertise
in the diagnosis and management of common
medical conditions. NPs can gain Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration,
this allows them to prescribe certain
medications to patients. Some NPs choose to open
their own clinical practices others choose to
specialize in one area of nursing.
Nurse Practitioners can become certified and
gain the following credentials:
- Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP)
- Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
- Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP)
- Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP)
- Gerontological Nurse Practitioner (GNP)
- Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP)
- Adult/Gerontological Nurse Practitioner (ANP/GNP)
- Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
(P/MHNP)
The typical duties of a Nurse Practitioner
include:
- Treating patients with non life threatening
and critical illnesses
- Examining patients
- Monitoring diabetes and blood pressure
- Writing prescriptions if DEA registered
- Interpreting laboratory results, EKGs and
X-rays
- Diagnosing and referring patients to other
health care professionals as required
- Getting a patients medical history
- Educating and counseling patients
- Providing physical therapy
Where they work:
Nurse Practitioners can work in Community Care
Centers, Urgent Care Centers, Home Health Care,
Hospitals, Hospices, Nurse Practitioner Offices,
Nursing Homes, Nursing Schools, Physicians
Offices, Public Clinics and Health Departments.
Qualifications:
To Become a Nurse Practitioner you must first
qualify as a Registered Nurse (RN). Upon gaining
experience as a registered nurse, you can then
attend an advanced nursing education program, at
an approved University. These programs usually
specialize in a specific field of nursing e.g.
Psychiatric/Mental Health, Women’s Health, Acute
Care, or Family Practice. Nurse Practitioner
courses can take one to two years to complete.
Once graduated, a Nurse Practitioner will need
to pass the licensing and certification
examination of the state in which they wish to
practice.
National Certification is offered by the
following professional bodies:
- American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC),
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
National Certification Corporation (NCC),
Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB) and
the American Association of Critical Care Nurses
(AACN).
Find a Nursing School:
Use the red search box above, to find schools
and colleges in your area that offer nursing programs.
Below is a list of some of the various types of
medical nurses / assistant nurses: |
|
