What does a practitioner do?
The duties of a practitioner depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. In the medical field, a practitioner is a doctor who provides medical services to patients according to their health issues or concerns, primarily by diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries. Their responsibilities include performing examinations and assessments, providing consultations and advice, prescribing medication, and referring patients to specialists when necessary. They must also maintain an active communication line with nurses and technicians for a smooth and efficient workflow.
Practitioner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real practitioner resumes:
- Manage pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment of diabetes and provide prescriptions and education before discharge from the hospital.
- Provide both in-home and office-base individual therapy to clients with mental illness.
- Treat patients on a referral basis and establish active collaboration with veterinary specialists and general practitioners involve with patient care.
- Provide counsel and representation for clients on various legal matters such as civil litigation and real estate and international business transactions.
- Perform reflexology test for patients with various allergies.
- Apply yoga therapy to help clients release emotional holding patterns.
- Represent clients in courtroom hearings, arbitration, and mediation.
- Work collaboratively with clients with SPMI in developing and fulfilling goals and treatment planning.
- Work with SPMI (schizophrenic, bipolar, borderline personality, TBI, etc . )
- Identify areas, project scope, goals, and deliverables and facilitate teams for kaizen blitzes.
- Perform Reiki sessions both in person and distantly, depending on client's location and availability.
- Maintain a practice focuse in criminal and probate law and in Clark, Greene, and Montgomery counties.
- Partner with IL's, AL's and LTC facilities to do talks, workshops and reiki with residents.
- Establish liaisons with economics services staff to facilitate referrals, track dispositions, and assist clients in complying with Medicaid criteria.
- Draft materials for and attend arbitration hearings.
Practitioner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Practitioners are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Social Work. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Practitioners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 28%
Treated patients on a referral basis and established active collaboration with veterinary specialists and general practitioners involved with patient care.
- Patient Care, 9%
Provide empathetic patient care, carefully assessing each case at every stage of the patient's history.
- Social Work, 7%
Provided clinical social work supervision to non-masters level social worker in long-term care facility
- Resuscitation, 5%
Required skills including skilled adult and pediatric assessment, specialized medication dosing, IV initiation and adult and pediatric resuscitation.
- Individual Therapy, 4%
See clients in their homes for individual therapy.
- Continuous Improvement, 3%
Ensured process improvements and artifacts were available to support repeatable results and continuous improvement for subsequent QA initiatives.
"patients," "patient care," and "social work" are among the most common skills that practitioners use at work. You can find even more practitioner responsibilities below, including:
Leadership skills. One of the key soft skills for a practitioner to have is leadership skills. You can see how this relates to what practitioners do because "aprns often work in positions of seniority." Additionally, a practitioner resume shows how practitioners use leadership skills: "worked with stars and leadership to implement a lean management system, driving a culture of continuous improvement. "
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling practitioner duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "aprns should be caring and sympathetic when treating patients." According to a practitioner resume, here's how practitioners can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "provide compassionate care and cultivates patient relations, educated patients in post-operative and follow up treatment. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for practitioners to perform their duties. For an example of how practitioner responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "aprns need to be thorough in providing treatments and medications that affect their patients’ health." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a practitioner: "comply with all standards of care including weekly progress notes, goal-oriented treatment plans, and comprehensive mental health evaluations. ".
Resourcefulness. practitioner responsibilities often require "resourcefulness." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "aprns should know where to find the answers that they need." This resume example shows what practitioners do with resourcefulness on a typical day: "provided client and family support, clinical assessment and psychoeducation to promote mental health wellness and resourcefulness. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a practitioner to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what practitioners relies on this skill, since "advanced practice registered nurses have to be able to communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals to ensure the appropriate course of action." How this skill relates to practitioner duties can be seen in an example from a practitioner resume snippet: "linked clients to distanced relatives, as well as conducted brief family therapy sessions to propel new involvement and communication. "
Interpersonal skills. Lastly, "interpersonal skills" is an important element of what a practitioner does. Practitioner responsibilities require this skill because "aprns must work with patients and families as well as with other healthcare providers and staff." This resume example highlights how practitioner duties rely on this skill: "provide clinical services to families and education on emotional management, interpersonal skills, assertiveness training, child management, etc. "
The three companies that hire the most practitioners are:
- Stretch Zone181 practitioners jobs
- UTMB HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS22 practitioners jobs
- University of Texas System21 practitioners jobs
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Compare different practitioners
Practitioner vs. Licensed social worker
Licensed Social Workers are duly and legally recognized to carry out activities related to social work. They identify individuals or groups of people in need and assess what kind of help they require. They may assist these people in connecting to agencies that would cater to their needs. Licensed Social Workers also help people cope with their challenges. They are responsible for crafting treatment plans or well-being improvement plans for the individuals they help. They may also be called on during times of crisis to provide emotional support to the individuals involved.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, practitioner responsibilities require skills like "resuscitation," "continuous improvement," "dea," and "java." Meanwhile a typical licensed social worker has skills in areas such as "home health," "rehabilitation," "msw," and "lsw." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Licensed social workers earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $56,730. On the other hand, practitioners are paid more in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $104,329.The education levels that licensed social workers earn slightly differ from practitioners. In particular, licensed social workers are 12.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a practitioner. Additionally, they're 7.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Practitioner vs. Clinical therapist
A Clinical Therapist works with patients to help identify, examine, and treat mental health and emotional issues or disorders. They counsel individuals or groups regarding psychological or emotional problems, as well as observe clients to detect indications of abnormal physical or mental behavior.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, practitioner responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "resuscitation," "individual therapy," and "continuous improvement." Meanwhile, a clinical therapist has duties that require skills in areas such as "psychosocial assessments," "clinical services," "substance abuse treatment," and "clinical supervision." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, clinical therapists earn a lower salary than practitioners. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, clinical therapists earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $54,686. Whereas practitioners have higher pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $104,329.In general, clinical therapists achieve higher levels of education than practitioners. They're 25.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 7.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for practitioners in the next 3-5 years?
Virginia Schwindt
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Practitioner vs. Therapist
A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from practitioner resumes include skills like "individual therapy," "continuous improvement," "dea," and "java," whereas a therapist is more likely to list skills in "group therapy sessions," "therapeutic services," "therapy services," and "rehabilitation. "
Therapists earn the best pay in the government industry, where they command an average salary of $55,972. Practitioners earn the highest pay from the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $104,329.When it comes to education, therapists tend to earn higher degree levels compared to practitioners. In fact, they're 15.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 5.9% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Practitioner vs. Person's health care nurse practitioner
Even though a few skill sets overlap between practitioners and person's health care nurse practitioners, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a practitioner might have more use for skills like "patient care," "social work," "resuscitation," and "individual therapy." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of person's health care nurse practitioners require skills like "bls," "home health," "patient education," and "acute care. "
In general, person's health care nurse practitioners hold lower degree levels compared to practitioners. Person's health care nurse practitioners are 10.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of practitioner
Updated January 8, 2025
