What does a family nurse practitioner do?
A family nurse practitioner is a registered nurse with advanced practice in family-focused care. Nurse practitioners can provide patient care to both children and adults. They have a higher degree in training than registered nurses; thus, they are qualified to diagnose and provide treatment to complex body conditions. Their duties include developing treatment plans, performing diagnostic tests, screening evaluations, and prescribing medications. Also, they educate and guide patients on disease prevention and healthy lifestyle habits. Their advanced education and training allowed them to practice as a clinic and hospital administrators as well as policy-makers. Family nurse practitioners have to get a bachelor's degree in nursing, then take and passed NCLEX-RN to become a registered nurse then proceed to take a Master's degree to get a job as a family nurse practitioner.
Family nurse practitioner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real family nurse practitioner resumes:
- Manage chronic conditions such as diabetes hypothyroidism and hypertension by following evidence base and clinical guidelines for these conditions.
- Manage acute illness and chronic health conditions including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and depression through a patient-centered, evidenced-base approach.
- Manage appropriate changes to individualize care plan to ensure cost and time efficacy in an outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation office.
- Refer patients to specialists to provide additional care to patients whose diseases and conditions are outside the scope of FNP practice.
- Full prescriptive rights with DEA certification.
- Educate patients on side effects, complications and further planning with chemotherapy.
- Function in an ARNP role in Emergi-Care (13 bed urgent and non-urgent center).
- Serve as a resource for nursing staff and as a preceptor for MSN nursing students.
- Provide comprehensive health care management of patients with chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma, COPD, and interstitial lung disease.
- Attend monthly Utah APRN Educational/informational meetings.
- Develop advanced EEG continuous monitoring program for ICU bedside monitoring.
- Provide appropriate clinical documentation using EMR system for all patient encounters.
- Provide inpatient cardiac clearance consultations, ICU and emergency room consultations.
- Conduct initiatives in the surrounding community with special focus given to hypertension and diabetic screenings.
- Perform clinical activities delegate by the supervising physician including incision and drainage and wind suturing.
Family nurse practitioner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 30% of Family Nurse Practitioners are proficient in Patients, Diagnosis, and EMR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Family Nurse Practitioners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 30%
Provided comprehensive well person care for patients across the lifespan, including well exams utilizing current adult immunization schedules.
- Diagnosis, 7%
Detailed assessment, diagnosis, plan development and implementation, and outcome evaluation to include medication prescription and referral where appropriate.
- EMR, 5%
Keep accurate EMR for charts of all orders, education, counseling, evaluations, and patient progress and recommended follow-up.
- Diagnostic Tests, 4%
Ordered laboratory and diagnostic tests, recommended vaccinations and preventative health screenings, prescribed appropriate medications, and referred to specialists.
- Physical Exams, 4%
Conducted annual physical examinations for New York State Department of Transportation employees and provided eligibility for work clearances among others.
- FNP, 3%
Referred patients to specialists to provide additional care to patients whose diseases and conditions are outside the scope of FNP practice.
Most family nurse practitioners use their skills in "patients," "diagnosis," and "emr" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential family nurse practitioner responsibilities here:
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a family nurse practitioner to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "aprns must work with patients and families as well as with other healthcare providers and staff." Family nurse practitioners often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "utilized breadth of knowledge and background as a provider, excellent interpersonal, customer service and communication skills. "
Leadership skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling family nurse practitioner duties is leadership skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "aprns often work in positions of seniority." According to a family nurse practitioner resume, here's how family nurse practitioners can utilize leadership skills in their job responsibilities: "served as the mid-level representative on the primary care leadership committee. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of family nurse practitioners is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday family nurse practitioner duties, as "advanced practice registered nurses have to be able to communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals to ensure the appropriate course of action." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "utilize good communication with other health careproviders, faxing patient's visit to their primary caredoctor train new medical assistants. "
Compassion. family nurse practitioner responsibilities often require "compassion." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "aprns should be caring and sympathetic when treating patients." This resume example shows what family nurse practitioners do with compassion on a typical day: "provide competent, compassionate care utilizing emr and evidence based practice guidelines in an autonomous environment. "
Detail oriented. A commonly-found skill in family nurse practitioner job descriptions, "detail oriented" is essential to what family nurse practitioners do. Family nurse practitioner responsibilities rely on this skill because "aprns need to be thorough in providing treatments and medications that affect their patients’ health." You can also see how family nurse practitioner duties rely on detail oriented in this resume example: "supervised and oriented medical staff (rn s and medical assistants). "
The three companies that hire the most family nurse practitioners are:
- CVS Health177 family nurse practitioners jobs
- Urgent Team125 family nurse practitioners jobs
- Fast Pace Health101 family nurse practitioners jobs
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Compare different family nurse practitioners
Family nurse practitioner vs. Oncology registered nurse
An oncology registered nurse is in charge of taking care of patients with cancer. Their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with physicians to devise particular care plans for patients, monitoring their daily condition and progress, administering medicine, preparing nutritious meals, and evaluating treatment results, reporting to the physician should there be any issues. Furthermore, as an oncology registered nurse, it is vital to provide physical and emotional support to patients as the treatments tend to be stressful and emotionally tolling.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, family nurse practitioner responsibilities require skills like "diagnosis," "physical exams," "fnp," and "urgent care." Meanwhile a typical oncology registered nurse has skills in areas such as "chemotherapy," "acls," "medical oncology," and "compassion." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Oncology registered nurses earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $63,612. On the other hand, family nurse practitioners are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $105,732.oncology registered nurses tend to reach lower levels of education than family nurse practitioners. In fact, oncology registered nurses are 38.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.7% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Family nurse practitioner vs. Utilization review nurse
The primary role of an Utilization Review Nurse is to analyze the condition of each patient carefully and decide if the patient still needs to stay in the hospital or be sent home. They deal with patients' relatives, doctors, and people from insurance companies.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that family nurse practitioner responsibilities requires skills like "diagnosis," "emr," "diagnostic tests," and "physical exams." But a utilization review nurse might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "medical necessity," "discharge planning," "utilization management," and "utilization review."
On average, utilization review nurses earn a lower salary than family nurse practitioners. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, utilization review nurses earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $67,742. Whereas family nurse practitioners have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $105,732.utilization review nurses earn lower levels of education than family nurse practitioners in general. They're 34.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Family nurse practitioner vs. Registered nurse
The primary responsibilities of a registered nurse involve caring for a variety of patients, from ill and injured to those who are healthy and wanting to stay that way. Nurses have different specialization and work with particular patients, such as newborn babies or those who are suffering from particular medical conditions. They work on different settings which includes hospital, outpatient facility, rehabilitation center, nursing home, dialysis center, home healthcare agency, and other offices. They can administer medications, wound care, and other aids or treatment plan. They also conduct medical tests, interpret the results, and monitor patients' recovery and progress.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a family nurse practitioner is likely to be skilled in "diagnosis," "physical exams," "fnp," and "urgent care," while a typical registered nurse is skilled in "bls," "cpr," "acls," and "surgery."
Registered nurses earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $64,500. Family nurse practitioners earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $105,732.When it comes to education, registered nurses tend to earn lower degree levels compared to family nurse practitioners. In fact, they're 38.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Family nurse practitioner vs. Certified registered nurse anesthetist
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist administers anesthesia to patients. They work in various healthcare settings, such as operating rooms, dentists and podiatrists offices, birthing centers, and plastic surgery centers.
Types of family nurse practitioner
Updated January 8, 2025
