Healthcare costs in the United States are rising. This is due to many factors, such as inflation, prescription drugs, and behavioral health. The result has been a redefinition of a nurse’s role. A nurse had always been a doctor’s assistant who follows orders. On the contrary, nursing has now evolved into a profession transformed by technology and healthcare.
Nurse practitioners have received a master’s degree as well as clinical training in primary care, acute care, neonatal care or women’s health care. This sets them apart from Registered Nurses (RNs), as they diagnose, monitor and treat chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure. They can also order, perform and interpret diagnostic studies such as lab work and X-rays.
Today there are more than 500 academic institutions in the U.S. that offer nurse practitioner programs to address the NP shortage.
The demand for NPs is growing
As of May 2023, the median annual salary for nurse practitioners was $128,490 with approximately 280,140 nurse practitioners employed in the U.S. according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
About the Job Market
Overall, the nation’s job market has tightened but the job market for nurse practitioners has continued to be strong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 45 to 46% increase from 2023 to 2033. This makes it one of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. followed closely by Physician’s assistants at 27% from 2022 to 2032, translating to over 38,000 new PA positions within a decade.
About Qualifications
Aspiring nurse practitioners should be capable of handling emotional and physical stress as well as working independently.
Physician’s Assistants (PAs)
PAs are not doctors. They practice medicine under the supervision of a doctor and can perform most functions of a doctor including diagnosing illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, recording patient histories, ordering lab work, and assisting in certain surgeries.
A 1996 National Academy of Science study determined that PAs quality of care closely resembled that of a physician.
PAs do not directly substitute for medical residents as they must be supervised by a physician. They also have different levels of training.
Residents on the other hand are fully licensed doctors who have extensive training in a specific specialty.
There is, however, a trend towards using PAs to address physician shortages where access to full-time physicians is limited.
A Second Career
About 65% of applicants have had about 1,000 hours of some type of patient care experience such as emergency medical technicians, paramedics, surgical technicians, and physical therapists. Unlike nursing, an equal number of male applicants generally apply ready to be immersed for two years in the medical field where they will take biochemistry and clinical medicine.
Additionally, they will spend another two thousand hours in clinical rotation under the supervision of a physician.
Experienced PAs emphasize that caring as well as curing enables patients to receive superior care.
Receiving Superior Care
Often patients who are monitored for cancer or a rare disease discover that many of their doctor visits are attended by an NP or a PA rather than attending doctors. They naturally become more comfortable with these providers as they spend the bulk of their visits with them.
When calling with a question or concern, these health care providers are often the ones who respond to their phone calls and serve as advocates for them with their attending physicians.
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