What is different between the roles of RN and NP?

[kirtland]

I hope someone will respond even though this thread is older.....As a fairly new graduate nurse, I am confused when others say that the roles of NP and RN are totally different. Really? The role of the NP is more complex, with more complex interventions like pharmaceauticals, but isn't the foundation of planning and care similar? Can someone please elaborate on the large differences between these roles (aside from the obvious - writing orders vs following orders; bedside assessments vs diagnostic assessments, etc)? Please, I beg of you, don't make me feel like an idiot. I am reaching out trying to understand if NP could be a good fit for me someday.......thank you in advance for your kind and helpful responses.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

I hope someone will respond even though this thread is older.....As a fairly new graduate nurse, I am confused when others say that the roles of NP and RN are totally different. Really? The role of the NP is more complex, with more complex interventions like pharmaceauticals, but isn't the foundation of planning and care similar? Can someone please elaborate on the large differences between these roles (aside from the obvious - writing orders vs following orders; bedside assessments vs diagnostic assessments, etc)? Please, I beg of you, don't make me feel like an idiot. I am reaching out trying to understand if NP could be a good fit for me someday.......thank you in advance for your kind and helpful responses.

I am not quite sure how to answer your questions, perhaps you could be a little more specific and we can try and help. You mentioned some major differences between RNs and NPs above. If you have some more specific questions I would be happy to answer.

For me, simplistically, I define professional role by what is expected of the individual. While RNs and APNs are both health professionals educated under the same model, advanced practice nurses are expected to function as health care providers.

[Atl-Murse]

You should shadow an NP

[OCRN3]

The NP assessment is more in depth then the RN.

The NP makes independent decisions.

For example instead of requesting a pain med for a patient from a doc as a RN, as a NP would evaluate the patient and order themselves.

The NP is much closer to acting/assessing/evaluating like a doctor than a staff RN. The NP still has the RN roots which helps the NP possibly make different choices than the PA or MD.

As far as the foundation of planning care as a RN you base a plan of care on a medical diagnosis. The RN does not choose the diagnosis the MD,PA, or NP chooses that medical diagnosis.

As a RN, you choose a nursing diagnosis, you choose nursing interventions. A NP chooses nursing and medical

Interventions.

I guess the NP has the best of both worlds. As a NP someone comes in with a sore throat, I diagnose strep throat, order antibiotics, that would be the medical part, the nursing part could be salt water gargles every 4 hours. Now, I'm not saying docs don't order those things but they tend to forget things like that and focus more on meds. As nurses, NPs have a advantage of working the floor and knowing what works for patients and bring that knowledge to being a provider.

Maybe a more specific question could clarify it for you? Hope I helped a bit.

[ritit123]

You and other reliers have clarified it pretty well. Basically, an NP can do everything that an MD can do with a focus on health promotion and disease prevention. If you went to see an NP she would not only prescribe you medication or diagnostic procedures but ( hopefully) have a heart to heart discussion about life style, psychosocial issues, etc. An RN can only assess, report and make "nursing diagnoses"which do not rely on the process of differential diagnosis.

[adamRn79, BSN, RN]

Night and day