What does a Nurse Practitioner do?
A nurse practitioner's role is diverse. It revolves around supervising nurses in a particular area and providing immediate care and treatment to patients through extensive knowledge and clinical experience. Among the duties of a nurse practitioner involves diagnosing and treating medical conditions, performing research and analysis through various tests, evaluating data and results, operating different kinds of medical equipment, and gathering samples from patients. Furthermore, a nurse practitioner must maintain an active line of communication and coordination among fellow health workers in a hospital or clinic.
Nurse practitioner responsibilities
Nurse practitioners play a crucial role in healthcare, often serving as primary care providers. They are responsible for a range of tasks including providing wellness care and acute treatments, administering health education and counseling, and conducting physical examinations. Jennifer Richter MSN, RN, TBSN Program Director, Instructor/Course Coordinator at The University of West Florida, emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, stating, "Remember that nursing school did not teach you all there is to know about nursing! You are still learning, and will continue to learn as you gain experience." This highlights the ongoing learning process that nurse practitioners undergo to provide the best care possible.
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nurse practitioner resumes:
- Manage care of chronic pediatric patients in PICU.
- Assess, diagnose and medically manage patients with various GI diseases and dysfunctions
- Manage medical illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, thyroid conditions and asthma and other medical conditions.
- Manage pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment of diabetes and provide prescriptions and education before discharge from the hospital.
- Manage appropriate changes to individualize care plan to ensure cost and time efficacy in an outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation office.
- Document correctly the patients' information in electronic health record and observe HIPAA.
- Provide interim cardiology service coverage in NICU, PICU, and non-ICU settings.
- Assist patients with ADL's as needed, maintaining a clean and safe environment.
- Provide inpatient and outpatient care for patients in the area of general cardiology and congestive heart failure.
- Average 20-25 patients a day; oversee a clinic staff of 4; precept 1 FNP student a day.
- Treat patients for conditions such as headaches, hypertension, urinary tract infections, upper respiratory infections, and dermatological conditions.
- Work with oncology and hematology patients.
- Provide management of medical oncology patients in the in-patient hospital setting.
- Coordinate with the departments of pulmonary and cardiology to provide optimal care for pulmonary hypertension patients.
- Obtain medical history, perform physical examinations, diagnosis and develop treatment plan with further recommendations for the referring providers.
Nurse practitioner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 29% of Nurse Practitioners are proficient in Patients, Diagnosis, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Nurse Practitioners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 29%
Performed and interpreted diagnostics tests, reviewed status of recommended preventative screenings, referred patients out for additional treatment when necessary.
- Diagnosis, 7%
Provided comprehensive primary care to adult male population at Belmont County Correctional Facility including chronic and acute disease diagnosis and management.
- Home Health, 5%
Performed in-home health risk assessments for Medicare Advantage patients
- Diagnostic Tests, 5%
Formulated treatment plans based on diagnostic tests and provided recommendations about diabetes and lipid management to both patients and the endocrinologist.
- Acute Care, 3%
Formulated and implemented appropriate treatment plans in collaboration with attending and consulting physicians for hospitalized patients in various acute care settings.
- EMR, 3%
Assumed lead responsibilities for EMR adoption and Medical Home designation endeavors.
"patients," "diagnosis," and "home health" are among the most common skills that nurse practitioners use at work. You can find even more nurse practitioner responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a nurse practitioner to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what nurse practitioners do because "aprns must work with patients and families as well as with other healthcare providers and staff." Additionally, a nurse practitioner resume shows how nurse practitioners use interpersonal skills: "preform administrative duties utilize ehr skills used leadership teamwork compassion flexibility and adaptability interpersonal skills planning and organization"
Leadership skills. Many nurse practitioner duties rely on leadership skills. "aprns often work in positions of seniority," so a nurse practitioner will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways nurse practitioner responsibilities rely on leadership skills: "demonstrate leadership by involving urgent care, palliative/hospice, dieticians, diabetic educators, counselors, rehabilitation facilities, etc. "
Communication skills. nurse practitioners are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to nurse practitioner responsibilities, because "advanced practice registered nurses have to be able to communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals to ensure the appropriate course of action." A nurse practitioner resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "continued communication with patients, pcp's, other specialty groups, ems, or hospital staff as required. "
Compassion. 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 nurse practitioners do with compassion on a typical day: "show compassion when dealing with family members, keeping families informed of patient status. "
Detail oriented. Another crucial skill for a nurse practitioner to carry out their responsibilities is "detail oriented." A big part of what nurse practitioners relies on this skill, since "aprns need to be thorough in providing treatments and medications that affect their patients’ health." How this skill relates to nurse practitioner duties can be seen in an example from a nurse practitioner resume snippet: "utilized detail oriented problem solving to maintain continuity of care between hospitalist and family practice teams. "
The three companies that hire the most nurse practitioners are:
- UnitedHealth Group1,076 nurse practitioners jobs
- Matrix Medical Network829 nurse practitioners jobs
- Hueman327 nurse practitioners jobs
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Compare different nurse practitioners
Nurse practitioner vs. Mental health nurse
A mental health nurse is responsible for assisting with the diagnosis and treatment plans of patients with mental health complications. Mental health nurses handle high-quality nursing care under mental health professionals' supervision within a hospital or mental health institution. They support in performing therapeutic activities, administering medical examinations, and counseling patients to know more about their conditions. A mental health nurse also does administrative tasks as needed, such as organizing and updating patients' information on the database, processing treatment payments, and responding to the family's inquiries and concerns.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a nurse practitioner are more likely to require skills like "diagnosis," "acute care," "emr," and "urgent care." On the other hand, a job as a mental health nurse requires skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "cpr." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that mental health nurses earn slightly differ from nurse practitioners. In particular, mental health nurses are 29.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nurse practitioner. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nurse practitioner vs. Clinical nurse specialist
Clinical nurse specialists (CNS) serve as experts in practicing nursing based on evidence in one or more specialty areas. These nurses use their advanced knowledge and experience in assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients. CNS is known to be called nurse educators for being assigned to conduct lectures in educational institutions due to their extensive effort to improve their craft. Additionally, their experience and expertise in a certain medical specialty qualify them to do case research.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that nurse practitioner responsibilities requires skills like "diagnosis," "diagnostic tests," "emr," and "medical care." But a clinical nurse specialist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "bls," "clinical practice," "cns," and "professional development."
Clinical nurse specialists earn lower levels of education than nurse practitioners in general. They're 16.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nurse practitioner vs. Nurse extern
The job of a nurse extern is to assist the mentor nurse in their nursing duties. They help the mentor nurse in various medical procedures such as administering medications or starting intravenous therapies. They provide or help with personal patient care, including changing bed linens, oral hygiene, and bathing. Nurse externships typically have different requirements that include having finished nursing school, completing a clinical nursing course before the training, and being registered in a nursing program.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a nurse practitioner is likely to be skilled in "diagnosis," "home health," "diagnostic tests," and "acute care," while a typical nurse extern is skilled in "vital signs," "cpr," "direct supervision," and "patient care."
When it comes to education, nurse externs tend to earn lower degree levels compared to nurse practitioners. In fact, they're 42.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Nurse practitioner vs. Person's health care nurse practitioner
Types of nurse practitioner
Updated June 25, 2024
