Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Introduction

An acute care nurse practitioner is basically a nurse practitioner that provides higher level of nursing care to patients that have brief but severe diseases or illnesses. This type of nurse practitioner usually works in ambulatory care clinics, emergency departments or any other short-term stay center. The acute care nurse practitioners typically diagnose and treat acute medical ailments. They are often employed in collaboration with the physician assistant   along with other members of the health care team.

The nurse profession is one of the faster paced nursing career selections out there. No doubt, this job is loaded with a lot of stressful job responsibility. If you want to work as an acute nurse practitioner, you’ll need to have a lot self discipline and patience.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Work Environment

The acute care nurse practitioner may work within different work settings such as operating rooms, doctors’ offices, walk-in clinics, critical care units and community-based environment. The nurse practitioner need to care for patients suffering from acute conditions such as respiratory issues, distress syndrome heart attacks, or shocks.

They also care for pre- and post operative patients and may perform higher level, invasive diagnostic and therapeutic processes. The acute care nurse practitioners may also serve as case managers and team leaders.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Requirement

To become an acute care nurse practitioner, you’ll also have to meet these requirements. You need to get a Master of Science in Nursing degree which includes specialized ACNP coursework. Most of the nursing schools usually offer this degree as a two year programs with about forty credit hours of coursework, including hundreds of clinical study hours.

If you already have a master’s degree in nursing, you may be able to plan ACNP certification with a one year post master’s program. The existing health care crisis in America has resulted in a particular need for acute care specialists. Hence, this is certainly a great career option.