What Is A Nurse Practitioner And What Do They Do?

By Samantha Heffner


People often wonder what's great about being a nurse practitioner, and there are many reasons why this is true. These are people with the drive to go through advanced level training and graduate level education. The normal path is to start out as an RN and then venture back to school to earn a higher level degree and complete advanced training in their field of choice.

These nurses are located throughout the entire health care field, in public and private facilities, educational institutions, correctional facilities, assisted living facilities, hospital wards, and countless other medical facilities. State laws vary, therefore, depending on geography, they can work independently or in collaboration with a licensed physician.

Most people aren't aware that they have the authority to write prescriptions, place an order for and read the results of diagnostic tests, provide treatment for medical conditions, and take care of checkups and wellness examinations. Much of what they do is similar to the doctor.

Practitioners work in all the different specialized areas of health care. You will find them in the pediatric field, general family practice, geriatric care, within the mental health sector, and many additional fields. They cover the entire spectrum of age groups. Practitioners educate, train and practice within an area of specialization. They are board certified in this specialty by their state Board of Nursing.

They are also midwife's, and as such, they will perform the functions of obstetricians and gynecologist during pregnancies. These capable people are used to managing the delivery process, as well as prenatal and maternity care. They are not authorized or licensed to perform cesarean section delivery procedures, but will assist. They can handle regular office visits for a pap smear and other standard procedures. They generally do not handle high-risk patients, but some may depending on their relationship with a collaborating physician.

An in demand area is to become a nurse anesthetist. As you might expect, they work under the supervision of an anesthesiologist. They have the capability to administer anesthesia for surgical procedures and pain management. They can determine the need for anesthesia, what the risks are to the patient and then administer the proper dosage.

All states are not the same with regard to how practitioners can practice and what they can do. Therefore, from state to state the laws change and so does the practitioners job. A couple of the more common things that can change are what prescription medication you can prescribe and what type of procedures can be performed without a physician present. Practitioners must be licensed in each state that they wish to practice. Most of the state only require a small fee to transfer your license from another state.

Most people have their own preferred path to a medical career. There are those that go to directly to medical school to become a doctor, while others become a nurse first and then go back to school to become a practitioner. It's easy to see what makes this profession so different, It's a great career path, first you become a nurse and learn how to care for patients, then are able to provide treatments. It's best to utilize the holistic approach, and treat all facets of a patient, the psychological, emotional and physical. These are just a few of the reasons that make being a Nurse Practitioner great.




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