Family nurse practitioners are among the most valued of healthcare workers astheir work is based on long-lasting and often multi-generational patient relationships. Family nurse practitioners are relied upon by patients and physicians to offer individualized healthcare insights and support. A family nurse practitioner job may be incredibly gratifying if you enjoy interacting with patients daily and forming deep connections.
Family nurse practitioners offer patients of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and communities life-changing care every day nationwide. With advanced training and certification in adult and pediatric healthcare, they are at the vanguard of nursing. They can treat patients in ways that registered nurses cannot. Because they focus on families, family nurse practitioners play a significant role in the healthcare industry. Our healthcare system requires family nurse practitioners to provide various services.
Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the roleof the family nurse practitioner and explore some of their responsibilities.
What does a family nurse practitioner do?
A family nurse practitioner is an advanced practice registered nurse who offers patients of all ages, including infants, adolescents, adults and elders, a wide range of family-focused medical services.Family nurse practitioners provide primary care for patients with acute and chronic illnesses, conditions and injuries. They also order or carry out diagnostic tests, keep track of patient information, conduct physical examinations, write prescriptions and create treatment plans. Theywork in various medical facilities, including clinics, community health centers, educational institutions, hospitals and private practices.
Let’s look at these responsibilities to understand their role and why they are crucial to the healthcare system.
Assessing and diagnosing patients
Family nurse practitioners must use the patient’s medical history, physical examinations, and clinical reasoning abilities as primary care clinicians to make differential diagnoses and create treatment programs that will result in the best possible patient outcomes. Because it involves critical thinking, information collection and decision-making, learning how to make these differential diagnoses or using the problem-solving process to separate similarly presenting diseases and medical problems is essential to family nurse practitionerpractice.
Conduct routine physical examinations
Family nurse practitioners are qualified to function as first-line medical staff. As a result, theycan carry out yearly reviews, provide required prescriptions, and schedule follow-up visits for regular assessment. It is advisable for an individual to go to the same healthcare professional for routine health needs. This is so that the healthcare professional can stay up to speed on the patient’s medical history and advancements. In addition, a primary care clinician who is a family nurse practitioner may be more accessible to patients when they are ill.
Provide preventive care
By identifying and controlling risk factors for poor health outcomes before they become complicated and possibly burdensome, evidence-based preventive care interventions have been shown to improve health. Also, this preventive approach to care saves money for both patients and healthcare institutions. Family nurse practitioners are crucial in this regard. Preventive care services include cancer screenings, education on important health issues, regular checkups, vaccinations against diseases, and routine blood pressure and cholesterol testing.
Prescribe medication
There are various privileges that family nurse practitioners enjoy that other nurses do not. One of these is being able to provide patients with a prescription for medication. Family nurse practitioners in all 50 states and Washington, DC can write drug prescriptions. However, certain states have particular rules for family nurse practitioners when prescribing drugs. For instance, before applying for a controlled substance certificate, family nurse practitioners must demonstrate safe practice for up to a year in some jurisdictions. In some states, family nurse practitioners are only allowed to prescribe drugs under the supervision of medical doctors. This means that before a prescription is given to a patient, a doctor must approve it.
Ordering and interpreting laboratory results
A wide range of diagnostic procedures may be carried out by nurses, including assessing vital signs and obtaining tissue, blood, stool or urine samples for testing. Because they need this data to diagnose patients and create treatment plans, nurses must pay special attention to detail to ensure that these tests are done correctly. Also, nurses may be responsible for reviewing the findings and communicating them to the rest of their medical staff.
Assist with minor surgeries
Family nurse practitioners aid surgeons with practical chores. Due to their training and area of practice, surgeons handle most of the surgical tasks during surgeries. Family nurse practitioners assist surgeons by delivering medical equipment and essential information during the operation. To help with the surgery, they also use suction equipment or use various surgical tools. Some family nurse practitioners assist with minor procedures such assuturing wounds.
Make referrals
Family nurse practitioners can complete referrals for specialists (neurologists, physiotherapists, dermatologists, cardiologists, etc.), medical imaging (X-rays, ultrasounds, etc.), lab work and results analysis.
With all this added responsibility, family nurse practitioners need to be able to display specific skills and traits and work under pressure. Next, we will discuss what it takes to become a family nurse practitioner.
What skills or traits are required to become a family nurse practitioner?
Family nurse practitioners are renowned for their high levels of nursing science proficiency, attentive care, and ability to build rapport with patients. Let’s examine some of the most crucial characteristics required for this role.
Communication
All levels of nurses must possess good oral and written communication abilities. You must comprehend and convey a doctor’s or other medical professional’s instructions to patients. Everyone must understand your message, including the staff and the patient’s carers, and it must always be delivered with subtlety and compassion. Additionally, there are instances when you may need to break bad news to patients or their families. You need to be able to communicate complex diagnoses and treatments to people of all ages. You should speak in a way that is comforting. It is important to remember that in this typeof work, listening abilities are also crucial.
Teaching
Patient education is one of the most crucial abilities required by family nurse practitioners. A patient needs to understandtheir diagnosis or treatment plan. Family nurse practitioners are responsible for converting technical medical information into terminology and expressions that patients may comprehend. Regarding risks, diagnoses and prognoses, nursesmust be realistic without being overly pessimistic. They need to be encouraging and supportive without beingintrusive. For patients to feel empowered to take the necessary actions to achieve excellent health while fully comprehending the reality of their existing state, nurses must strike a balance in their communication.
Leadership
Strong leadership skills are necessary for the job of a family nurse practitioner. Due to their extensive responsibilities and the care they provide, family nurse practitioners are seen as authorities by their patients. Also, other hospital staff members and lower-level registered nurses regard them as leaders. Therefore, goodleadership abilities are essential to effectively perform the duties of a family nurse practitioner and inspire trust in their patients and colleagues.
Examination
Patient assessment and diagnostic reasoning are two skills that set family nurse practitionersapart from other nurses. To obtain a complete picture of a patient’s health, family nurse practitionersmust be able to conduct a thorough physical examination and order diagnostic tests when necessary. With this knowledge, they should be able to compile a list of probable differential diagnoses and choose the most appropriate diagnostic procedure, treatment strategy and post-treatment care. To make treatment decisions, family nurse practitionersneed to understand information from the history and physical exam and the findings of diagnostic tests.
Compassion
An essential component of nursing is compassion. Patients may lose trust in the physician or even refuse to follow the care plan if they don’t feel that the provider cares about them or has the time to do so. Family nurse practitioners can connect with and better understand their patients by showing compassion. This can be shown in various ways, including listening, asking questions and communicating honestly. When patients experience tenderness from their medical professionals, they are more likely to open up, trust them,and follow instructions, which can enhance health results.
Empathy
Empathy is the knowledge of other people’s feelings and the endeavor to comprehend them. Empathy is a crucial communication ability for effective family nurse practitioners, and its importance cannot be overstated. Empathy alludes to the nurse’scapacity to understand the unique circumstances of each patient. This involves emotional, cognitive and behavioral characteristics, but does not indicate bonding. According to studies, healthcare workers with a high sense of empathy do their duty of inciting therapeutic change more effectively. Understanding a patient’s needs is made simpler for an empathetic family nurse practitioner. The patient then feels secure enough to share their medical concerns. Also, it has been demonstrated that empathy helps the therapist and patient’s therapeutic connection grow and improve.
Critical thinking
A patient’s condition could change at anytime, requiring nurses to move quickly, identify potential aggravating issues, and choose the best way to carry out care. When delivering treatment and diagnosing patients, the capacity to appraise new or unexpected developments with solid critical thinking is essential. Evaluating patients, interpreting test data and making diagnoses all require the family nurse practitioner to use critical thinking skills.
Subspecialties of a family nurse practitioner
During their education, nurses have a specialty option. The traditional location for a family nurse practitioner is a family medicine clinic or a similar setting, while some decide to complete their education in a more specialized field of medicine. Gaining certification in a specialty or subspecialty can demonstrate your commitment to this field of medicine and boost your understanding of it. Some of these subspecialties include:
- Cardiac
- Postpartum
- Critical care
- Perinatal
- Dermatology
- Orthopedics
- Diabetes
- Oncology
- ER
- Surgical
The good news is that you can pursue your specialism at any time. You can specialize in it while completing your online post-master’s FNP program, after receiving your general FNP certification, or while working. There are many institutions and organizations that offer these programs. However, it’s critical to find one thatspecializes in it. After all, you want to become specialized, so why wouldn’t you want your education to follow a similar path? This is where institutions such asRockhurst University can help. Rockhurst University prepares advanced practice nurses to care for the whole patient’s needs through rigorous academics, rich and varied clinical experiences, and a spirit of inquiry and reflection.
What is driving the demand for family nurse practitioners?
Primary care physicians are more and more in demand. By 2034, the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that the country’s present physician shortfall will have grown to between 17,800 and 48,000 in the primary care environment. The doctors who practice family medicine, geriatric medicine and general pediatrics are represented by this projection.
The nursing profession is expanding due to aging populations, rising rates of chronic disease and a lack of qualified medical personnel. Particularly in remote areasor low-income neighborhoods, where patients have trouble getting enough primary care, family nurse practitionersare in high demand. Let’s take a look at these factors closely.
Aging population
The phrase ‘the graying of America’ alludes to how older people are gradually taking over the US population. Adults are living longer, and the baby boomer generationis getting older. In fact, the number of people aged 85 and over will almostquadruple between 2000 and 2040. It will be challenging to meet the demand for healthcare providers as these numbers are rising quickly. In addition, about half of Americans suffer from chronic illnesses, and just under a quarter have five or more chronic conditions. The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners’ survey results show that nurse practitioners provide treatment for a significant number of elderly patients as well as those with numerous chronic diseases.
Cost savings
Family nurse practitioners are a desirable alternative for healthcare businesses wanting to cut expenses because they are frequently less expensive to hire than doctors. Family nurse practitioners can deliver high-quality treatment for less money, aiding companies in better budget management.
Shortage of physicians
There is now a shortage of primary care physicians in the US, which is increasing the need for more family nurse practitioners to step up and fill the vacuum that this has left. There is also a rise in demand for specialist medical professionals. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that by 2025, there will be a shortfall of about 90,000 physicians as fewer medical students choose to specialize in primary care. Adult-gerontology and family nurse practitioners have the education, experience and training to close this healthcare system gap.
Conclusion
Many nurses feel that they will never learn enough during the early years of their careersto succeed. Just gaining control of the fundamentals can seem daunting as they learn from their mistakes. Yet with practice and experience, their self-assurance grows. They become talented, determined nurses with a passion for patient care and a desire to make a difference. As a result, many nurses follow a career path leading from registered nurse to family nurse practitioner out of a desire to accomplish more. Beyond the hospital bedside, family nurse practitionersenjoy increased autonomy, professional advancement and job satisfaction.
Becoming a family nurse practitioner demands a lot of effort and commitment to the job, but from a financial standpoint, this career path is quite lucrative. Payscale reports that the averagesalaryfor family nurse practitionersis $100,503. Of course, salaries fluctuate based on several variables, including location, qualifications, work environment, years of experience, etc.
Family nurse practitioners are ideally positioned for career longevity because healthcare delivery is continually changing. Their unique ability to deliver high-quality and affordable healthcare will be crucial in expanding healthcare services. This could be the right moment to research the pre-requisites for obtaining a master’s degree and becoming a family nurse practitioner if you’re considering moving up in your profession and value increased abilities and job happiness.
