Different Types of Nurse
Practitioners – Nurse Practitioner Specialties
Nurse
Practitioners (NPs) are
advanced
practice nurses that are registered and considered as mid-level
practitioners. In 20 states NPs have full practice authority, which means that
they don’t have to be supervised by a doctor. In the other states, NPs would
still have more authority in comparison to RNs, however, they would need to
have a medical doctor sign in some cases of patient care decisions. In this
post, we will look at the types of
nurse practitioners
and
nurse practitioner
specialties.
What do Nurse
Practitioners do?
Nurse Practitioners
(NPs) are trained to assess the needs of patients, diagnose diseases and
illnesses, order and interpret laboratory and diagnostic tests, prescribe
medication and formulate treatment plans for patients.
How long
does it take to become a Nurse Practitioner?
A Nurse
Practitioner is an advanced
practice registered nurse (APRN), in order to become a Nurse Practitioner
you would need to do the following:
Firstly
obtain an RN (registered nurse)
license. This would take you about two to four years depending on the course of
study route you choose to take. If you opt for an associate’s degree or a
diploma in nursing (AND), it
would take you about two to three years to complete. If you opt for a Bachelor
of Science in Nursing
(BSN), it would typically take you four years. Once you have completed your
chosen program, you would need to pass the NCLEX-RN, which is the National Council
Licensure Examination. Now, you are an RN.
Secondly,
you would need to obtain your Master of Science in Nursing
(MSN) in your chosen specialty. Depending on your chosen program, it would take
you two to three years to complete. Most of the programs would prefer for you
to have a BSN,
however, there are programs that intake ASN (Associate of Science in Nursing) and RN- this
Master program would take you generally between two and two and a half years to
complete.
Lastly,
you would need to obtain APRN
Certification, which takes less than a year. Once you have graduated, you
can take your APRN
certification exam to meet the state licensure requirements. The timeframe
varies, but it generally takes a couple of months of studying to pass the exam
and become certified. You can obtain specific APRN certification through the
following organizations; National Board of
Certification and Recertification for Nurse
Anaesthetists, Pediatric
Nursing Certification Board and the American Midwifery
Certification Board.
So to
become a Nurse
Practitioner it would take you four to seven years.
Core values of
Nurse Practitioners
By working as a Nurse
Practitioner, you should know the true value of compassionate care and
empathy. This is your ability, as a nurse, to be aware of, to
understand, to be sensitive to, and to experience the feelings, experiences,
and thoughts of your patient. Empathy is respecting the dignity of your
patients as well as appreciating their self-actualization and independence.
Teaching
When
you’re working as a nurse
you would have the important role of assisting patients and their families with
information that would be needed to maintain the optimal health of the
patient. The information that you would be providing is based on your
assessment of the patient, which is complete, relevant and accurate. You would
also clarify the information that is provided by the other healthcare
team members.
Communication
Being a Nurse Practitioner requires you
to have good communication skills, to be able to exchange messages, thoughts,
and information- it is of utmost importance in the process of nursing.
You will also be using your communication skills during the assessment of your
patients- behavior, signals, speech, and writing- and you will implementing,
planning and evaluating the nursing care
provided to your patients. Communication is important because you will be
dealing with many people- patients, their families, healthcare team
members, and other groups of people. You need to be competent in written, oral
and in the techniques of therapeutic communication.
Applied
Therapeutics
As a nurse, you would be
applying therapeutic modalities such as nutritional and pharmacological
interventions and so on. When you apply these modalities, it is based on your
knowledge of these therapeutic uses, in addition to your skills in the
assessment and evaluation of the patient.
Ethical and Legal
Considerations
There
are specific legal and ethical boundaries when you’re a Nurse
Practitioner, and you evaluate, plan and provide nursing care based on these
boundaries. You can find the Code of Ethics for Nurses, which
provides an informative framework on how to perform correct and safe practices
as well as behavior. This also comes down to ethical behavior, which involves
confidentiality, accountability, fidelity, responsibility, truthfulness, and
justice. When it comes to legal considerations, in nursing it is
defined as regulatory, statutory and common law. There are also professional
standards of care that provide legal guidelines for nursing
practices. In terms of patient care, it would be issues such as
abandonment, negligence, battery, informed consent, malpractice, and assault.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance for you, as a nurse, to
know and understand the legal boundaries- this would enable you to not only
protect the rights of your patient but to protect your rights as well.
Psychomotor
Skills
As a Nurse Practitioner, you would
learn psychomotor skills by practice- once you have achieved your understanding
of the basic principles of skills when you’re studying. It’s part of the nursing
fundamentals, laying of hands to provide your patient with comfort, and using
specific skills for an accomplished patient assessment to be able to evaluate
and provide nursing
care.
Critical Thinking
As a nurse
you are constantly needed to make appropriate and accurate clinical decisions,
therefore you should have the ability of critical thinking to be able to make
decisions when there’s a problem with a patient. Remember, not all problems
have clear textbook solutions, sometimes you’ll experience a situation that has
no textbook solution- you should be able to think and act accordingly.
Professionalism
As a nurse,
you would need to be professional in terms of your behavior when it comes to
patients, yourself, others and the public. Your behavior would reflect the true
values of nursing
as a profession. You are professional also by being knowledgeable in your
specialty, being conscious in then actions you take, and by having the
responsibility of others and yourself.
Nurse
Practitioner Specialties
We’ve
talked about how to become a nurse practitioner
and what the job may entail. Now let’s look at the types of nurse practitioners so you can
find the specialty that is right for you.
Primary Healthcare
Nurse Practitioner
Once you
earn your certification of PHC-NP, you become a Primary
Healthcare Nurse Practitioner. This type of nurse practitioner
will be a specialist in your patient’s primary
healthcare and you will be able to provide effective, accessible and comprehensive care to patients
of all ages.
Psychiatric-Mental
Health Nurse Practitioner
Your
focus would be on your patient’s mental illness- just like psychiatrists. Your
duties would entail treating your patients, prescribing their medication,
counseling the patients that have mental health
issues like anxiety, depression and other disorders. Once you earn your
PMHNP-BC you will become Psychiatric-Mental
Health Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified.
Family Nurse
Practitioner
By
earning your FNP-BC
certification, it will make you Family Nurse
Practitioner-Board Certified. This specialty allows you the most
flexibility in terms of working in a healthcare
setting, or even to start your practice. By working as a Family Nurse
Practitioner, you will be working similarly to a family doctor.
You will work in clinics, hospitals, start
your practice or in medical
offices. Some of your duties would entail prescribing medication,
diagnosing and treating patients, providing overall wellness check-ups, and so
on.
Neonatal Nurse
Practitioner
As a Neonatal
Nurse Practitioner, you would be working in neonatal
intensive care units (NICUs) and in nurseries. Your
duties would include providing critical and generalized healthcare to infants and
new-borns while being an interface with healthcare
providers and parents. You can acquire various different certifications, Neonatal Intensive
Care Nursing (RNC-NIC), Inpatient
Obstetric Nursing (RNC-OB), Maternal Newborn
Nursing (RNC-MNN), Low-Risk
Neonatal Nursing (RNC-LRN) or Neonatal Nurse
Practitioner (NNP-BC).
Pediatric
Nurse Practitioner
This is
a great specialty if you love working with younger children in the age range of
infants to adolescents. Your duties would entail the primary healthcare
of young patients to achieve healthy emotional and physical development. Once
you earn your PPCNP-BC
you will become Pediatric
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified.
Women’s Health
Nurse Practitioner
When
working as a WHNP-
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, your duties would entail the primary
healthcare of women. This could include fertility, prenatal management,
overall wellness care, and planning. You can work in different settings from family planning
clinics, to adult or internal
medicine, to ambulatory OB-GYN clinics, and more.
Dermatology
Nurse Practitioner
As a Dermatology
Nurse Practitioner, you will be involved in the diagnosis and treatment of
skin conditions and injuries, which could range from acne to burns, to skin
cancer, to rosacea or psoriasis and more. You will be performing skin exams,
recording your patient’s medical history and test results as well as assess
your patient’s condition. You will also be providing preoperative and
postoperative care for the patients that have undergone surgical procedures or
other treatments. Once you achieve your DCNP certification
you will become a certified Dermatology Certified
Nurse Practitioner.
Adult
gerontology Nurse Practitioner
Much
like a family
Nurse Practitioner, your specialty would entail providing primary care in
outpatient places like medical
offices or clinics.
You would mainly be working with adults, however, you would be working with
older patients who need to come in for routine checks or have chronic or minor
illnesses. When you complete your certification you will earn your AGPCNP-BC
credential, making you Adult-Gerontology
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner-Board certified.
Aesthetic
Nurse Practitioner
As an Aesthetic Nurse
Practitioner, your role would be to help your patients boost their
confidence and feel at their best. You would perform procedures that are
non-surgical and use therapeutics to assist your patients with their appearance
cosmetically, for instance, anti-aging fillers, acne treatments, and so on.
Once you earn your CANS certification you will be a Certified Aesthetic Nurse
Specialist.
Emergency
Nurse Practitioner
