What does an ID Nurse Practitioner do?

core0 · Aug 31, 2009

Hi All,
I was curious--
What is it like being an Infectious Disease ARNP (schooling, work schedule), and what sort of duties does it entail? Thanks!

There's no such thing as an infectious disease ARNP. You would have to do either an ANP, ACNP or PNP depending on what focus you want. Then you would have to find a job with an infectious disease practice or county health department.

The duties vary broadly. Probably one of the most common is to manage HIV patients in an outpatient office. Other portions of the job will follow along the duties of an infectious disease physician. This would include consulting and managing inpatients with bacterial or viral infections. Managing those same patients in the outpatient setting. Managing infusion centers for IV antibiotics and managing chronic wounds.

David Carpenter, PA-C

jer_sd · Sep 1, 2009

There are a few ID specific programs for APNs out there, might be worth contacting one of them to speak to a graduate or two.

http://www.son.washington.edu/admissions/certificates/idicn/

http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/minhva.htm

These are the only two I know of off the top of my head. The washington program looks great they might be a good resource.

Jeremy

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2009

I shadowed an NP who worked in infectious diseases. She saw HIV+ and AIDS patients on an outpatient basis and did some home visits. She managed their meds, made sure they got connected with social services they needed, coordinated with their other care providers (many of her patients were pregnant women so she worked with their OB/GYN). She followed up with them to make sure they were in compliance with their meds, and started a program to have HIV+ women in to have pap smears and breast exams, as cervical cancer rates are higher in women with HIV and many of the female patients of the clinic hadn't had recent paps.

She also did hospital discharges for HIV+ patients, making sure that the meds they were sent home with were the correct ones, scheduling follow ups for them, doing patient education.

One of the coolest things I got to do with her was attend the weekly ID department conference. People would bring in interesting or unusual cases, sometimes to get ideas on what to do and other times as a teaching tool for the interns. It was fascinating and made me want to go to med school for a minute, lol.

She had an acute care and adult specialization but only keeps the adult active.