Nurse practitioners provide basic primary health care. They diagnose and treat common acute illnesses and injuries and can prescribe medications in most states. Advanced practice nurses, such as nurse practitioners, have met higher educational and clinical practice requirements beyond the basic nursing education and licensing required of all registered nurses.

As the public becomes involved in health care reform, nurse practitioners will become increasingly important in the delivery of health care.

Nurse practitioners should be caring and sympathetic. They need emotional stability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stresses. Good communication skills are also necessary, as well as psychomotor skills and creative and critical thinking skills.

Nurse practitioners provide complete health care under the supervision of a physician. They need skills to obtain medical histories, perform physical examinations, and diagnose and treat acute health problems such as infections and injuries. They should also be able to order, perform, and interpret diagnostic studies such as lab work and x-rays.

Nurse practitioners must have a bachelor of science in nursing degree and hold RN certification prior to applying to a nurse practitioner program. Most nurse practitioner programs require two to three years of advanced study and result in a master’s degree.

Nurse practitioners work in both rural and urban settings, in physician offices, hospitals and clinics, community health centers, public health departments, health maintenance organizations, nursing homes and hospices, home health agencies, and nursing schools.

Work hours for these professionals often exceed the usual 8-hour day and they may be required to be on-call to manage patient problems.

In addition to providing direct patient care, many nurse practitioners are also actively involved in education, research, and legislative activities to promote quality health care.