A Nurse Practitioner (NP) Is A Registered Nurse
A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a registered nurse, usually with a Master's degree. She is trained in the management and diagnosis of common illnesses, including chronic ones. A Nurse Practitioner job involves providing a wide range of care services to patients.
Nurse practitioners play a critical role in providing preventive health care to patients. As they possess specialized training, they often work as primary or specialty care givers, especially in less serviced areas.
The care provided by Nurse Practitioners is not very different from what is provided by physicians, with whom she maintains a collaborative relationship.
A Nurse practitioner treats chronic or acute illnesses and diseases such as diabetes, pneumonia and high blood pressure. She has a wide variety of responsibilities: obtains medical histories and conducts examinations, orders and interprets diagnostic tests, provides family planning counseling and prenatal care, performs minor surgeries such as suturing, casting and dermatological biopsies, and educates patients on self care skills and treatment options. She also prescribes therapies and medications for the patients. She can function as a patient's regular health care provider and while serving patients of all ages within her scope of practice. Her central philosophy is to provide individualized care. In some states, she is allowed to work independently and open her own clinical practice. Similarly in some states, she can function as a "psychiatric clinician" and practice as a psychiatrist. There are some critics of some aspects of the American healthcare system at present in reference to what they believe is a greater need for more nurse practitioners and less physicians! Indeed, the nurse practitioners are very often the first people in the line to diagnose what is wrong with the patient, and to treat injuries and illnesses. With specialization increasing all the time, nurse practitioners undertake secondary care responsibilities as well. Some examples are anesthesiology, (performed by certified registered nurse anesthetists), midwifery, (performed by certified nurse midwives), and certain clinical duties (performed by clinical nurse specialists). Nurse practitioners begin by acquiring a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing which is followed by further training and education which may lead to another level of expertise by acquiring a Master's degree in Nursing. Other requirements are training and certification in a specialty area from a state licensing board. The areas of specialty include adult practice, family practice, women's health, acute care, pediatrics, gerontology and many more. Nurse practitioners don't have to undergo the painstaking schooling and residential training of a medical doctor, but they may be exposed to similar liabilities. That is why they require extra professional insurance which, in most cases, is covered by the hospitals or medical offices where they work. In large cities like New York, Boston or San Francisco, a Nurse Practitioner's salary may range from $85,000 to $104,000. In addition to this, they also earn overtime pay because of the widespread shortage of nursing staff. As a result, many nurse practitioners are able to earn even six figure salaries in many parts of the country. They have been able to achieve this without having to undergo the four years of medical school plus another four years of residency which an aspiring medical doctor is required to do.
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