NP (orthopedics) job description

[Ackeem, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I'm a BSN student who became fascinated with orthopedics from multiple visits to the hospital and interacting with NP's and orthopedic Doctors. i broke my right tibia twice the first time when i was 9 (soccer) and a second time when i was 16 (wrestling) these specialist treated me so well and professional over the period of 5 months that i spent with them when i was 16, my tibia completely snapped so the healing process alone took 4 months. Orthropedic doc is out of the question i just don't have enough money and patience to to go through so much years of schooling, so i was wondering if NP operated similar to an orthro doc or is he/she purely an assistant to the doc. I really want to go into the field and any response from a NP that specialize in Orthropedics would be highly appreciated just give me a full job description of what you do on a daily basis. i checked on wiki but the description was quite vague, also anybody that work with these people can feel free to respond.

please and thanks

Ackeem.

[Ackeem, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

nobody lol

[kguill975, MSN, APRN, NP]

I'm not an Ortho NP, but work with them and I did a clinical rotation with them in NP school. I work in a university affiliated county hospital, so the Ortho dept is very busy, usually seeing about 80-100 patients per clinic day. They have clinic 2 days a week, and do scheduled cases on the other 3 days.There are residents, medical students, and a PA, so everyone sees their share. The PA that I did a rotation with worked Mon-Fri 8-5, and saw 8-10 patients a day. She did wound debridements, suturing, joint injections, splinting/casting, saw consults in the ER, saw inpatients, and scrubbed in on cases (if she wanted, but she didn't like being in the OR). She seemed to really enjoy it. Hope that helps you.

[IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

I can only tell you that the NPs at the pediatric ortho office we go to do very little. They at times just follow the doctor around. There have been other times (not many) where they came in and did the initial portion of the visit. I've never had them do the entire appointment like they do when we go to GI.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

At my hospital we have an inpatient ortho NP that is awesome. She does not do any time in the OR. Instead, her job is to round on pts, write orders, and take care of any issues that come up while ortho is in the OR. She only works during the day, as an ortho resident is on call at night.

We also have a RN that works with ortho that has been trained to be the first assist during surgeries. This nurse works almost exclusively in the OR