Besides education & pay, difference between a NP & RN?

the biggest difference between an RN and NP is that as an NP, you have more autonomy and are able to diagnose and treat patients for a variety of conditions, depending on your scope of practice. For example, if you are sick and go to a clinic to be seen, you can be treated by a NP. As a RN you are still caring for the patient, but you get orders for the medications and treatments from the M.D., PA, DO, NP depending on where you work. If you are sick and go to a clinic, the RN may be the one to talk your vitals and get initial information on what is going on but than you are seen by the health care provider for evaluation and treatment. The role of the RN and NP is various depending on where you work. Many RNs work in the hospital setting on various floors, such as neuro, med/surg, pediatrics etc and provide bedside care- passing meds, monitoring, IVs, etc.

I'm not sure what you constitute as "minor" surgery, but as someone in the FNP program and hoping to work in the outpatient setting, I don't expect to do much "surgically" besides maybe stitches/taking them out, which is the only type of "surgery" I have learned in my program thus far. If you specialize, such as an Orthopedic NP, you can get certified as a first assist in surgeries etc. It all depends on where you want to work and do.

Basically NPs are "advance nurses" because you are in charge of managing and treating acute and chronic conditions. My FNP program is focused on obtaining a thorough history, performing an accurate physical exam, assessing what I think is going on/the diagnosis and the plan in how to care for the patient. If you go the PNP route, you would only be able to care for kids; if you go the family route you can treat across the life span.

As far as teaching, many schools are transitioning to only allowing NPs to teach who either have or are in the middle of obtaining a Doctorate degree. There is speculation that by 2015 it will be required that all NP students will have to get their doctorate degree in order to practice and those who already have their masters at this point may be grandfathered in. It is unknown what will really happen, but something to know if you pursue an advanced degree-that by the time you do, it may very well be required to get the doctorate as well.

I hope this helps!

As an RN I assessed the patient and documented my findings so that the medical provider (MD or NP) could follow up with their orders for treatment and medications. I would also give these medications or treatments and then monitor the patient's response which I would then communicate to the provider. I also provided education to the patient/family so they could better care for themselves.

As an NP I assess my patient and document my findings, then I diagnose the medical problems and order tests, treatments, medicaitons and/or referrals. I then follow up with the patient to make sure that the treatment is working. I am the one who comes up with the diagnosis, treatment, medications. I am the one who orders the tests and interrprets the results.

I have much greater autonomy. As an RN I can say to the doc/NP and say, "Hey, Mr. Jone's BP is low and he's tachycardic. He's been vomiting off and on for the past few days. Would you like to order any tests or start an IV?"

As the NP I say: "I see Mr. Jone's BP is low and he's tachycardic. He's also been vomiting. I think we need to check a CBC, BMP and get an IV started. NS bolus 500 and then 200/hr. How about we give him a dose of Zofran and see if that helps him feel better too. Be sure to hold his metoprolol and do a stat one touch. If his blood sugar is low let me know and we'll add some dextrose to the IV."

It's a totally different point of view.

As for surgery, well you don't HAVE to do any of it, but I do place sutures, do shave and punch biopsies, do cryotherapy, I&Ds and maybe a few more small procedures. I haven't done joint injections yet, but it's on my list to learn. How much you do procedure wise is up to you, though some places may ask that you do them while others won't.

Really depends on geography. Some areas have loads of NPs doing inpatient care and it's routine - other areas of the country they think you're crazy if you talk about an NP working with the hospitalist group or in the ED.

The beautiful thing about nurse practition-ing is that there can be about as much (or as little) variety as you want.

if you wan to teach, be a nurse educator. You don't have to be a NP to do that.

Nurse Practitioners Assess, collect data, ORDER diagnostics, INTERPRET diagnostic results, DIAGNOSES, and prescribes medical therapies.

yes, you can be a FNP and work only with kids.