The Diverse Roles that a Nurse Practitioner Has

Not a lot of people in the health care industry know this, but almost every Nurse Practitioner started as a Registered Nurse. That's right, a NP is just an RN who went back to school for additional training and to get a graduate level degree so that they could become a practitioner. Practitioner start first by getting the necessary experience they need as an RN because most practitioner programs don't even look at an applicant who doesn't have at least two years of experience working as an registered nurse. Get some experience by working alongside a practitioner or a physician before applying to an NP program.

Jobs for practitioners are available in every medical institution there is in the United States. Practitioners can find work in hospitals, walk in clinics, school or college clinics, sports teams, they can work for companies, they can work in prisons, and they can even have their own private practice. Basically, any where there is an abundant need of health care is a place where a practitioner can work. Practitioners have a ton of freedom in their job. They have the ability to make their own judgments toward patient care.

All most every Nurse Practitioner in the U.S. knows how to provide the basic patient care tasks that are involved in treating common diseases and illnesses. They can perform physical exams for patients, and many can write prescriptions which is a privilege that even RNs don't have.  The majority of states in the United States allows practitioners to write prescriptions for patients. Practitioners can do almost all the tasks of a physician and they can do at a reduced costs, which is why they are so valuable on sports teams and in the poorer rural areas in the U.S. There are some practitioners who are specialists and therefore are greatly depended on when doctors aren't around.

There are practitioners who work in hospices treating the terminally ill, there are some who work in nursing homes treating patients who are suffering from some chronic illness. There are even NPs who have specialized in pathology and oncology treating patients who have cancer or some other type of disease.

A Nurse Practitioner has the necessary education and training that puts them in the position of being able to assist surgeons in emergency rooms, and when there isn't a surgeon around a practitioner can do minute surgeries like biopsies or suturing up a open patient. They have that additional training and advanced education that allows them to do this. Its all the experiences that come with this job that make it so great.

 

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