Nurse Practitioner

Nurse Practitioners are advanced practice providers who have finished a 2 year Nurse Practitioner program and have obtained a master’s degree in nursing. Nurse Practitioners are quickly becoming the answer, along with physician assistants, to the primary care healthcare shortage. While CRNA’s (also known as “nurse anesthetists”) go to school for 3 years after obtaining their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and specialize solely in anesthesia, nurse practitioners are able to work in many different fields and specialties.

Some nurse practitioners go through a program that teaches them adult medicine combined with a form of medicine that is practiced in the intensive care unit or critical care unit. They are generally referred to as Acute Care Nurse Practitioners and they are only able to see patients who are 13 years or older. Other NP’s train to become family nurse practitioners and are able to see patients of all ages. Pediatric nurse practitioners treat only those ages 12 and under, while psychiatric nurse practitioners work in mental health for all ages. There is even a sub-specialty of pediatric nurse practitioners called neonatal nurse practitioners who work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

If you have visited your primary care physician, chances are you have been treated by a nurse practitioner. The hiring demand for advanced nurses has increased by over 500% from 2006 to 2010 alone. Given the surge in baby boomers becoming eligible for Medicare, that percentage of demand is only poised to increase. If you are a nurse practitioner looking for a job, then the opportunities are going to become limitless over the next ten years. If you are a hiring manager considering hiring a nurse practitioner, then it is going to become more and more difficult to attract providers to your practice. If you are in either of these two groups, please click on the green box at the top for more information.