Four reasons you should aspire to become a nurse practitioner
The demand for healthcare is increasing at an unprecedented rate. But not enough skilled nurses are available to fulfill this need. To understand this issue, one must look at the number of nurse positions opening in the next decade and the nurses available to fill those positions. The BLS of the United States estimates that the nursing field might grow by 45% by the time we reach 2029. On the contrary, nursing employment will only increase by 9%, five times less than the required growth numbers. It means there are more career opportunities available in nursing than nurses ready to fill these positions.
Factors contributing to nurse shortage
The nurse shortage in the country is driven by many factors, including a greater need for healthcare services, a large number of nurses aging out of their profession, and the growing population of baby boomers. The new healthcare reforms make healthcare available to more people, shifting healthcare’s focus on nurse-driven roles. The nurses’ retirement also creates a shortage of personnel ready to train new nurses. Without qualified faculty, nursing schools won’t be able to prepare highly skilled nurses to offer high-quality patient care. So, young nurses need to up-skill themselves to be ready to assume the roles of nurse educators. It is only possible by earning additional qualifications, certifications, and training.
Some areas of healthcare pose a more urgent need for qualified nurses than others. These include more family nurses with advanced qualifications to care for patients of all ages. Due to the broader scope of their service, hospitals prefer nurses with BSN or MSN Family Nurse Practitioner degrees over the ones with just a diploma. These highly qualified nurses can assume various responsibilities, including leadership positions and management roles. Hence, more diploma holder nurses are opting for nurse practitioner qualifications, with a greater share of family nurse practitioner degrees. Here is more on why you should aspire to become a nurse practitioner.
- Greater autonomy
The job of a nurse practitioner is quite different from that of an RN. The most apparent difference is the increased scope of nursing practice. As a nurse practitioner, you can fulfill roles that you don’t qualify for as an RN. Nurse practitioners can execute many of the functions that were the domain of physicians in the past. Today nurse practitioners can diagnose illnesses, devise treatment plans, and even prescribe medicines in some states. However, registered nurses are not authorized to perform these roles. The advanced level education of nurses practitioner prepares them to access the patients’ medical history, educate and counsel patients and their families, order lab tests, medical screenings, therapies, and interpret the results.
However, one noteworthy aspect here is that the roles of a nurse practitioner vary depending on the state and the employer. Nurse practitioners add value to healthcare, garner positive patient outcomes, and become change agents. Hence, policymakers are happy to give them more roles and expand their autonomy.
- Availability of work in all states and rural areas
Nurse practitioners can work in any location without any restriction of geographical boundaries. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in the coming years, healthcare will face a shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034. The detrimental impact of this shortage will echo across primary and specialty care. Hence, more nurses are needed to perform the roles of these physicians and reduce the impact of this shortage.
Rural settings are among those who have consistently faced an unequal distribution of healthcare services. The need for healthcare providers in rural settings is among the most urgent concerns of healthcare policymakers. This has been a persistent problem because living in far-flung areas, smaller towns, and villages have never appealed to anyone. But many states are curbing this issue by offering better incentives, bonuses, and allowances. Nurse practitioners receive tax credits, insurance benefits, relocation expenses, vehicle bonuses, and much more. As a nurse practitioner working in rural areas, you might end up making more money; besides, the respect you get from rural communities and households is unmatchable.
- Ability to work in a multitude of settings
As a nurse practitioner, you are not limited to working in a hospital only; there are countless other options. For instance, you can work in private or group practice, urgent care, health department, long-term patient care facilities or nursing homes, school and varsities, etc.
In the hospital, you have opportunities in the inpatient and outpatient arrangements. You can work as a general nurse practitioner or earn a specialization and concentrate your knowledge and practice on that one area only. For instance, an NP can opt to go into the emergency department, critical care, and obstetrics, to name a few.
In private or group practice, nurse practitioners focus on family care. You are involved in patient education, counseling, diagnosis, and treatment of illness. Private and group practice is available in sports medicine and dermatology, urology, and gastroenterology. Likewise, in urgent care facilities, you treat patients who are in urgent need of help but not dealing with life-threatening situations. Here nurse practitioners provide care for muscle sprains, minor bone fractures, skin rashes, fever/flu, etc.
- Opportunity to have more earning and career opportunities
Nurse practitioners can earn more than RNs because they have more qualifications and perform more duties. Nurse practitioners’ income often comes with additional benefits such as retirement planning, liability insurance, and paid vacation time. The average income is $ 114,510, equal to $ 55.05 per hour. This salary is according to May 2020 estimates, which is pretty recent. The salary of a nurse practitioner can vary based on numerous factors, including the specialty, the state, region, city, and employer, years of working.
Once you are a nurse practitioner, you can easily specialize in a specific patient care area. For instance, after some experience, a nurse wanting to shift to dermatology can do so by getting the right certification through Dermatology Nurses Association if you already have a master’s degree.
Conclusion
The job of nurse practitioners is very dynamic, and the scope is wide-ranging. The path to becoming a nurse practitioner is quite challenging. It requires multiple degree programs, but it is often highly beneficial. The advantages of becoming a nurse practitioner include monetary awards, more autonomy, and better ability to offer patient care services.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
