Licensure
You have to be licensed by your state to work as a nurse practitioner. You must submit your results and evidence of your education to your state’s association of nursing to get a license. In some places, you have to apply for a separate prescriptive authority license to prescribe medications.
You must ensure your license stays in good standing for you to legally work as a nurse practitioner. Each state has its own rules for maintaining a nurse practitioner license. Generally, this involves doing education coursework and working a certain number of clinical hours.
What areas can you focus on as a nurse practitioner?
Every health worker, especially doctors and nurses, has to pick a specialty. The specialty you pick will determine your education, exams, and licensure. You must have at least an MSN degree to work as a nurse practitioner in any specialty. You have the following options:
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- Family nurse practitioner (FNP). An FNP acts as a primary care professional. They provide a larger range of healthcare services to patients of all ages. This is one of the most popular nurse practitioner specialties.
- Adult nurse practitioner. Adult nurse practitioners offer primary care services to adults. This mostly includes exams, education, prescriptions, and treatments.
- Pediatric nurse practitioner. Pediatric nurse practitioners offer primary care for patients (infants to teenagers). Just like other primary care nurse practitioners, they do exams, diagnose health conditions, recommend drugs, and offer treatments.
- Geriatric nurse practitioner. Geriatric [3] nurse practitioners treat older adults. In some cases, they work with certain groups such as nursing home residents or people with diabetes [4]. They offer primary care and education to patients.
- Women’s nurse practitioner. They focus entirely on health issues related to women. They offer simple reproductive [5] and gynecological treatment.
- Neonatal nurse practitioner. Neonatal nurse practitioners are focused on newborns. They work in labor and delivery units and in neonatal [6] intensive care units. In some cases, they offer education and advice to new parents.
- Acute care nurse practitioner. Acute care nurse practitioners work in urgent care clinics or emergency rooms to treat sudden and serious wounds or sicknesses.
- Occupational health nurse practitioner (OHNP). An OHNP treats wounds sustained in offices and offers employee education.
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