Nurse Practitioners
What Is A Nurse Practitioner?
Partners with you in:
- Promoting Good Health Practices
- Preventing Illness and Disease
- Pursuing Quality Healthcare
Who Are Nurse Practitioners?
- Experts who provide primary healthcare to individuals, families, and groups across the life span.
- Registered professional nurses prepared for advanced practice through formal education programs including clinical experience.
- Supportive members of the healthcare team who can assist you with decisions and actions in staying well and in coping with illness.
- One of four types of advanced practice nurses who are an integral part of a reformed healthcare system. Advanced practice nurses include nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists.
What Do Nurse Practitioners Do?
- Deliver high-quality, cost-effective, primary healthcare to people of all ages, newborns through aged.
- Assess health status by taking health histories and performing physical examinations.
- Order and interpret laboratory tests, x-rays, and developmental and screening tests to identify patients' health problems, risk factors, and strengths.
- Diagnose and manage common acute minor illnesses and injuries and stable chronic illnesses, collaborating with other members of the healthcare team.
- Emphasize health education and provide counseling for individuals, families, and groups.
- Improve access to healthcare for those who would otherwise have no care, including the homeless, poor, schoolchildren, people with AIDS and residents of rural and inner-city areas.
What's Unique About Nurse Practitioners?
Patients prefer seeing nurse practitioners for their healthcare because nurse practitioners:
- Take time to listen to patients' concerns and answer their questions.
- Offer them choices when treatment for illness is necessary.
- Are interested in patients and their lives, not just their illnesses.
- Believe in patients' rights to know what is happening to them and their bodies.
- Combine the warmth and caring of a friend with the professionalism of a healthcare provider.
Where Do Nurse Practitioners Work?
- Health Centers
- Clinics
- Schools
- Hospitals
- Health Departments
- Home Health Agencies
- Health Maintenance Organizations
- Private and Group Health Practices
- College Health Facilities
- Long Term Care Facilities
- Day Care Centers
- Occupational Settings
- Shelters for the Homeless