Nurse Practitioner Career Jobs Description How to Become Nurse Practitioner?

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has advanced education and clinical training in a health care specialty. Recognized as expert health care providers, nurse practitioners deliver basic health care for infants, children, adults, and families in a wide range of outpatient and inpatient settings. Nurse practitioners provide information people need to make informed decisions about their health care and lifestyle choices.

Nurse Practitioner focus particularly on health promotion and maintenance, disease prevention, and diagnosing and managing acute and chronic illnesses. Nurse practitioner care is individualized, focusing not only on health problems, but also on the effects health problems have on people and their families.

Among their varied roles, nurse practitioners take patient histories; perform physical exams; diagnose and treat common acute illnesses and injuries; provide immunizations; manage high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic health problems; order and interpret lab tests; prescribe medication and nonpharmacological therapies; provide prenatal care and family planning services; and counsel patients on healthy lifestyles and health care options. Many nurse practitioners also work as educators and research scientists at schools of nursing, and are actively involved in legislative activities and health care policy to promote quality health care delivery for the nation.

Nurse Practitioner practice under the rules and regulations of the Nurse Practice Act of the state in which they work. Nurse practitioners can prescribe medication in every state and in the District of Columbia. In 21 states plus the District, Nurse Practitioner can practice independently without physician collaboration or supervision.

Many Nurse Practitioner have their own practices and can be reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, or other third parties.

Examples of the areas that a Nurse Practitioner might specialise in include

pain management
HIV
breast feeding
haemophilia
burns
Many run clinics, and in the clinics they have personal contact with patients and often have full responsibility for making decisions about patients' care. Some also prescribe and monitor the effects of patients medication.

When required, Nurse Practitioners share some of their specialist knowledge with other nurses who might suddenly need to find out about a particular topic. For instance, if an HIV patient appears in a hospital ward, a Nurse Practitioner in HIV nursing might be brought in to teach the ward nurses about that medical condition.

Nurse Practitioners also help ensure that national healthcare standards are put into practice locally, and may contribute to developing policies that govern how patients should be cared for.

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