From diagnosing procedures to surgeries and health awareness, nurse practitioners help patients keep healthy throughout their clinical visits. They are an integral part of a functioning hospital or clinic. Doctors and physicians often work together with nurse practitioners to develop the best treatment for patients. Considering the significance of nurse practitioners, it’s not surprising that it’s one of the fastest-growing healthcare jobs. The future looks bright, with growing demands. It is the perfect time to start pursuing this career. However, it’s not possible to reach your goals without doing some research. While you can describe a nurse practitioner’s general role within a few sentences, it’s worth noting that all NPs specialize in specific areas. So, specializations require more in-depth research. To help you better understand this job, here are the roles of specialized nurse practitioners.
1. ADULT GERONTOLOGY NURSE PRACTITIONERS
Adult gerontology nurse practitioners (AGNPs) specialize in providing primary health care to adolescents and elderly patients. These nurses often record patients’ previous health data and draw out conclusions after analyzing the recorded data. Therefore, they aid in the development of treatment plans and diagnostic procedures. These nurses keep their information on the patients updated and carefully observe patient health through procedures. Furthermore, they also recommend suitable specialists for patients. This job is a highly demanding one and thus requires extensive and well-planned education. If you’re looking forward to becoming one of these skillful nurses, then do check out ag-pcnp programs. To further add to the responsibilities of AGNPs, they also promote healthcare through promotion programs and educate patients about their conditions.
2. FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONERS
These nurses are responsible for taking care of patients of all ages for long-term periods. The development of diagnostic and treatment procedures is a standard part of the roles of this nurse specialization. They often work with other healthcare workers like physicians to help in their work. Thus, they can often provide help in areas short of physicians. Family nurse practitioners’ everyday routine work includes treating injuries, performing examinations, and even prescribing medicines. All these skills qualify these nurses as primary health care providers. Furthermore, family nurse practitioners are also known to provide gynecological care to women.
3. WOMEN’S HEALTH NURSE PRACTITIONERS
As the name suggests, women’s health nurse practitioners specialize in providing extensive care to women of all ages. A wide range of responsibilities is on their shoulders. They are known to take care of the gynecological, reproductive, and obstetric health of females. Their work necessitates them to perform physical examinations, provide medication, and perform other procedures related to women’s health. Furthermore, these nurses are also skilled in addressing women’s psychological issues, such as the impacts of abuse, postpartum, and depression. However, maintaining the general wellness of women is also a central part of these nurses’ role. According to a survey, women’s health NPs provide 90% of their patients with direct patient care. Due to their essential role in healthcare, these nurses work in diverse workplaces, including nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, and assisted living facilities.
4. PEDIATRIC NURSE PRACTITIONERS
These nurses specialize in providing healthcare to pediatric patients, including people ranging from infants to young adults. As a consequence, they play an essential role in ensuring the health of growing children. Everyday tasks assigned to pediatric NPs are giving vaccination, diagnosing patients regularly, and performing sports or school physical examinations. They also provide recommendations to parents about their children’s nutrition, physical exercise, psychological conditions, and lifestyle. Their duties require them to know how to communicate with children to work effectively. In teen care, these nurses also assess bullying, peer pressure, and sexual problems. They commonly work in an emergency, peachcare for kids , pediatric intensive care, and hospitals.
5. ACUTE CARE NURSE PRACTITIONERS
Their role in health care includes the extensive care of patients with critical, complex acute, and chronic illnesses. Their patients are both the elderly and the young. The duties are quite similar to a family nurse practitioner. Everyday tasks carried out by these nurses include assisting in surgical procedures, managing hospital stays, and developing treatments for patients. They often have to work under high-pressure environments such as emergency and ICUs.