What does a Nurse Practitioner do?

Specialties NP

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I was thinking of becoming a NP, but I'm not too sure on what they exactly do. I've searched the internet and the basic thing i got from people is that they are like doctors. It wasn't that helpful, and I was hoping someone here can help me.

Specializes in School Nurse.

That makes sense - hadn't though of it like that. I keep thinking of an appointment I had with my MD a couple years ago (usually I see a PA, but the MD was in the office that day) I am a large women :) and every year my weight had been going up 10 or 15#. I made an off the cuff remark about that, and what I should do. He told me a busy Sunday afternoon was not the time to talk about weight loss. Ok, I thought (my doctor's office has a walk in clinic that is open every day, and I was in for a blood pressure med refill). But I am not a little over weight, I am well into the morbidly obese catagory. I understand being busy, but just wouldn't ever want to put my patient in that spot. I know how to lose weight, but I doubt he knew I was a nurse, so it just bothers me that I got that response when we know obesity is such a problem health wise.

Specializes in Family NP, OB Nursing.

I empathize with how you felt when your doc made that comment, but as an NP I can see his point especially if you were there on a walk in day. Walk-in days are set up to be quick, usually for things that can't wait, like your med refill or flu, sore throat, acute illness and what he was saying was that he would need more time scheduled to deal with the weight discussion. However, he should have addressed it differently.

I have often had to stop patients who called to get in for an acute visit, say sinus infection, and then want to address several chronic health problems. I'm writing for antibiotics for sinusitis and they want to discuss their blood pressure meds and diabetes.

The problem is, this appointment isn't the time to do that. Acute appointments are scheduled every 10 minutes to address quick, simple problems, I can't address the other problems in this amount of time. What I'll say is, "I agree we need to discuss that, but this appointment was only scheduled because you were sick. I'll have the front desk schedule you an appointment next week so we'll have time to talk about that without being rushed."

He wasn't really meaning he didn't want to address it, though maybe weight loss isn't his "thing", but he really didn't have time. What he should have done is suggested another appointment to address it.

Specializes in School Nurse.

Thanks - that makes me feel alot better about things at my doctor's office :) When he said that to me the only think I could think of was the piece of paper we had by the phone at the psych hospital I worked at years ago. Don't remember the exact wording, but basically if someone is calling wanting to talk to someone about their drinking or drug problem, you have about a 30 minute window before they start thinking its not a problem anymore. So get them an appointment NOW. I saw that Sunday afternoon in the same way - I have talked to my PA about my weight, but not the MD.

Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

I work in adult primary care at a busy community health center. I do feel I'm rushed-I get 15 minutes for an appointment whether it's a sore throat or a full physical. I don't plan on staying there after my contract is up later this year. I also work 1 evening a week at a homeless shelter. There I pretty much focus on harm reduction. I'd like to work at a private family practice, or in a specilaty practice like heme-onc. I have no desire to work as a hospitalist. My dream job would be to work at a college health service. I love the young adult age group and you have the opportunity to do a lot of health teaching. However, those jobs don't pay very well (at least in my area) and I can't afford to take a pay cut at this time. Maybe that will be my job choice when my kids are through college.

Specializes in PICU.

A non-traditional role that you might be interested in is a palliative care NP. It is a role where you are there to support the patient and family. The PNP at my hospital works with the families to make sure they understand the disease process and treatments, I believe she sometimes does home visits to make sure they have what they need to care for the child at home, she will meet with them anytime they are admitted, make sure their care is consistent, etc. They often follow the children for years. When it gets to the point that they need to start talking about DNRs and such, she talks to them about the type of death they want and quality of life issues. She has been doing her job for about 10 years now and absolutely loves it. Her focus is quality of life for the patient and protecting the patient and family from anything that might affect that. I'm sure she has some sad days, but the work she does has such a significant impact on the families that she finds it very rewarding. And it is definitely a non-traditional NP role.

Hi, any other NP's here willing to give advice? I like a lot of autonomy in my work and am comparing different types of NP specialties. I am an RN working FT for past three years on a med-surg and ortho/neuro floor and I love science and medicine but also am considering the path of mental health nurse practitioner and wanted to ask you what is the most fulfilling part of your job? I am interested in the counseling part and I am good at it although my past life coaching experience 2000 -2010 was with people who just wanted to improve their lives an was not with anyone with significant mental illness. My passion is rooted deeply in the mental/emotional causes of disease (mental or physical) and also in preventative medicine through wellness/ educating people on cause and effect, avoiding onset of (avoidable) mental illness and physical illness through education, outreach and family wellness programs parental support and resources education about nutrition, stress reduction, mind body connection etc. One of my main interests is in preventing (preventable) mental illness that comes from emotional trauma. I also have some interest in treating PTSD. I have heard that NP's in the psych field do more prescribing medication than 1 on 1 counseling. Does anyone here know that to be true? I really am not interested in prescribing pharmaceutical medicines for mental problems to be honest. I am interested in almost every other type of therapy to help mental/emotional illness that does not involve medications. Also the stress of that profession could be too much as well. I thought I wanted to be a FNP before considering a NP in psych and am still undecided. Really I should probably be a naturopath but job availablity is really important to me as well as health insurance. I have 2 young kids and am already working full time so mostly just gathering information right now. My income requirements are 90,000+. I have settled for jobs I loved in the past but was always living hand to mouth and being financially stable and having financial freedom is very important to me especially the older I get. I really appreciate any information or opinions anyone can provide even if it is just brief. :) Thanks again in advance!

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