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What can a nurse practitioner do?

What are the differences between a nurse practitioner & a doctor? What about a nurse practitioner and nurse?

  • I am not sure if I want to spend the 8+ years of school to be a doctor. If I would choose a nurse practitioner, what can I specialize in? What are the main differences between a nurse practitioner and an RN?

  • Answer:

    First of all a nurse practitioner has to go through a graduate program. The job opportunities for a nurse practitioner are endless. My mom is a nurse practitioner and she has worked in cardiology, oncology, and epidemiology without going back to school in between. She also teaches at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing part time. She has prescribing rights and she does not work under the supervision of a doctor. A Nurse Practitioner can legally have their own practice much like a doctor. Something to be considered is that there is a new degree that is increasing in popularity its is the DNP (doctorate of nurse practitioning) its becoming important to some places that there nurses in teaching positions or leadership spots have there doctorate but the program is only like another 2 years. The cool thing about nursing is that you can come out of your undergraduate and work for a few years making a fair amount of money and put that away to go back to school then go part time to grad school to become a nurse practitioner and then work some more. Its really an awesome job hope this clears up some of the questions. My recomendation would be to contact someone at one of the schools of nursing and start talking to them they can answer your questions in much greater detail. Another thing if you go to nursing school and then start working and decide you don't like it you have only wasted 2 years the other 2 years were geneds so you can go back for a different postbac degree and change direction. Its a good position

Kayla at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Depends. In the US nurses with RN degree can work in hospitals, doctors offices, schools or wherever. A nurse practitioner can work in the hospital or run their own office with a doctor signing off on prescriptions and such. Nurse practitioner does more work on their own than a nurse does. A doctor does their own work and has no one to oversee what they do other than the state medical board. Educationally a nurse with an RN degree takes about 3-4 years of college unless they specialize in an area. A nurse practitioner takes about an additional 1-2 years depending on your field of specialty. So the more the education, the more you can do alone. Nurses make a base salary that is dependent on location, nurse practitioners make approximately double the nurse salary, and doctors are at the top of the food chain. Consider your choices and go for it. You can always add to your initial education and become more as you get started in your career. There are online courses, on the job training, and work experience credits to help you get to where you want to be. Hope this helps.

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