With advanced training, NPs qualified to provide, coordinate patient care
N urse practitioners are grouped with nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives by the U.S. Department of Labor because of their classification as advanced practice registered nurses, or APRNs They provide and coordinate patient care. Some also provide primary and specialty health care, depending on their work setting and employer.
NPs are employed in clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care sites, private physician practices, nursing homes, schools, colleges and public health departments, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
“There is a wide range of responsibilities and actions, and nurse practitioners can serve in different capacities, depending on where they work,” says Joanna Black, a health care career consultant. “NPs have become part of the larger health-care picture. They play a role in some of the important functions that have become essential to the overall treatment of an individual.” According to the AANP, nurse practitioners are qualified to: • Prescribe medications and other treatments. • Order, perform and interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x-rays. • Diagnose and treat acute and chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, and injuries. • Manage patients’ overall care. • Counsel patients on disease prevention and positive health and lifestyle choices.
Nurse practitioner Jose Menendez says he sees his role as someone who is focused on overall health.
“I look at all aspects of a patient’s wellbeing and try to work with them to either make adjustments to their lifestyle or help them find the appropriate doctor or healthcare facilitator to serve their needs,” he says. “I feel like I can earn someone’s trust by treating their whole, rather than their parts.”
Menendez, who splits his time between a physician’s office and a medical clinic, says that trust is based on individual work and a team effort.
“No one is isolated in health care today,” he says. “There’s not a doctor making house calls who handles every single ailment in your family. Today, you have generalists and specialists. We all have to work together.”
Menendez adds, “You have to love learning. You have to want to find out new ways to help others.”
Black says she finds that the nurse practitioners hired most often have professional demeanors that mix seriousness with a casual approach to others.
“I’m sure there are NPs who have largerthan-life personalities, but I find that the candidates who are hired most often have a strong, professional presence that comes through best by their informal and casual conversations with patients,” she says.