Prerequisites and Amount of Time and Money To Become a Nurse - Research Paper Example

HOW TO BECOME A NURSE PRACTITIONER, WHAT ARE THE PREREQUISITES, HOW MUCH MONEY AND HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE ME. It has always been my plan to follow my mother’s footsteps and become a nurse. However, when I got to know about the profession of a nurse practitioner, I was curious to know more about it and in order to do that I had to conduct a thorough research. The research I conducted was entirely through the help of internet. A nurse practitioner is a nurse who is specialized in a certain area like a pediatric nurse, women’s health, occupational health et cetera. Nurse practitioners are also known as advanced practice nurses or APNs. A nurse practitioner is a high level nursing profession so it needs a properly acquired higher education. They can proceed like normal physicians due to the extensive knowledge they have acquired while becoming a nurse practitioner. They give primary care to the patients in hospitals and can diagnose or treat patients as well. The main responsibilities of nurse practitioners are to perform physical tests, prescribe physical therapy, ordering of diagnostic tests and other related errands. The major information which I required about this career is the education needed for being a nurse practitioner. Upon researching about the educational requirements for this career I came to know a lot about the career itself. It is not at all an easy task to become nurse practitioner because plenty of hard work and time is needed to become a good nurse. To become a nurse practitioner a master degree is required but in order to get that, first he or she needs to complete all the prerequisites in order to further carry on with the higher education. The prerequisite for master is a bachelors of science in nursing (BSN). The curriculum that BSN follows includes the course of anatomy, physiology, nutrition, microbiology and nursing. BSN completes in four years time just like other degrees. Additionally, the candidate for this program has to be a current license registered nurse. In order to get this license there is a criterion to follow, which varies from state to state. But usually what the candidate requires is the completion of an approved nursing program, passing the exam of National Council Licensure Examination or NCLEX-RN and last but not the least they need to have clinical experience in this field. After completion of degree, the applicants now need to complete Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree from an approved nursing program. The main aim of this degree is to prepare the student for specialty in a specific field and primary care. There are various topics that are taught in this program which include pathophysiology, advance nursing practice, ethics and other related courses. A Masters of Science in nursing degree is a minimum requirement for becoming a nurse practitioner. Even though master’s degree is enough in order to get into the profession of nurse practitioner but still most students do opt to get admission in doctoral degree program so that it helps them in increasing their career opportunities and expertise. This doctoral program teaches the students advanced methods of how to take care of the needs of the patients. It also helps them to pursue career in teaching and make difference in the field of teaching as well. The general topics that are taught in this doctoral program are capstone project, leadership, behavior complexity and population health. All these courses are taught to enhance the knowledge of these nurses so that they can use this knowledge to help other people and also to pass on this to their students. Other then the information about the education the next question which is also equally important is that how much time all of this takes. As a bachelors degree in nursing is required for this which is of four years, we can straight away add four years to this time. After this the Masters of Science degree in nursing is required which takes almost two to three years. Now, by simply adding up these numbers, it takes six to eight years to complete the required education in order to fully qualify for being a nurse practitioner. Other than doing these two degrees the doctorate program also takes about one to two years. All these extensive educational programs which are the requirements of being nurse practitioners closely resemble the educational requirements for being a fully qualified doctor. Due to this nurse practitioners can act like medical physicians and perform the same primary care procedures they can. The extensive educational system also helps the nurse practitioner to get a NP license. In order to practice health care in a state the newly graduate should pass the state exam so that he or she can get the license by that specific state. The work extent of a nurse practitioner’s work depends on the state rules. Some states do not allow nurse practitioners to work on the same level as general physicians, while in other states they are allowed to practice more or less like normal physicians. The question of how much a nurse practitioner earns is also one of the important aspects I want to get information about. It is actually very difficult to answer this question accurately because all of nurse practitioners do not have same kind of education level and work experiences. So, what they earn depends upon their work experiences and education, like, for example a nurse who has done specialization in extensive care or acute care would obviously get a much higher pay as compared to other nurse practitioners. Another factor that affects their salaries is the fact of where they are providing their services. A nurse providing his or her services in surgical department or in general hospital will get more pay as compared to the nurses working in privately or employed by some school or college. Hence, their salary depends on the type of work they are doing. The highest annual salary for nurse practitioners is around $106,000 and the lowest salary a nurse practitioner gets is around $29,000. There are also many misconceptions about nurse practitioners. Many people think that there is no difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner. What these people do not know is that nurse practitioners have much more knowledge as compared to other nurses. Sometimes with this kind of extensive education nurse practitioners think that they have an equal footing with the doctors in the hospitals. But this kind of attitude is mostly not acceptable to other medical staff in the hospitals. Hence, I learned that instead of wasting our time in competitions, the chief concern of all the medical staff in the hospital should be the patients. In order to conduct a research work a lot of hard work is required and we need many sources to complete it. After the completion of the research work regarding the profession of a nurse practitioner, I know all the information I require. Now that I have answers to all my questions, I can easily go forward and follow the path of being a nurse practitioner. Bibliography Aktan, Nadine M. Fast Facts for the New Nurse Practitioner: What You Really Need to Know in a Nutshell. New York: Springer Pub. Co, 2010. Walsh, Mike, Alison Crumbie, and Shirley Reveley. Nurse Practitioners: Clinical Skills and Professional Issues. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999. Read More