Flexible Family Nurse Practitioner Career Choices

As the interest in the family nurse practitioner (FNP) role has grown, the career options through careful program selection have enabled nurses to better control their healthcare career trajectory. While the FNP role broadly speaking has a strong family-oriented focus, there are different programs open for nurses that know exactly where they wish to head in their careers.

Let’s now consider a few of the options for healthcare staff looking at becoming a family nurse practitioner.

The MSN Bridge

Nurses that wish to progress more rapidly in their career can look at studying for a master’s in nursing while concurrently completing their bachelor’s degree as a registered nurse. Moving between the RN and MSN status is referred to as the MSN bridge. It’s an aggressive move to learn key leadership, healthcare policies, and the practice of nursing at a higher level sooner rather than later.

Family Nurse Practitioner

Getting an online nursing masters as a Family Nurse Practitioner qualifies you to work directly with families and one-on-one with family members (and anyone else). Typically, an FNP works with the same patients over long periods seeing to their healthcare and wellbeing as a long-term commitment.

The course of study includes understanding about prevention of disease, approaches to improving overall wellness, how medicines are used to improve health, having a clear understanding of how clinical trials work and how to make important decisions for the long-term health of each patient.

Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner

The Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner program is different to the FNP one. Its focus is squarely on care for women through their lifetime. The different health problems women experience, how medical health issues directly relate to women, screenings and examinations for different types of cancer, gynecological care, prenatal, family planning and other aspects of medical care are all covered. Registered nurses who have felt most at home dealing with female patients should strongly consider this alternative program for a greater specialization.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

The role of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) is another career specialization which focuses on both short-term acute health problems, and long-term chronic medical conditions that patients have lived with or must contend with for much of their lives.

The age range of the typical patients is from small children afflicted with either a chronic or acute medical issue, teenagers having to deal with serious medical problems along with the more usual teenage angst, and the elderly who often have diseases that have them experiencing a gradual deterioration in their ability to take care of themselves.

In each case, assessing the health of the patient, the clinical reason for the diagnosis, resolving medical issues and advising how to prevent a future flareup, as well as the management of ongoing healthcare-related problems all fall under the remit of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. It is an interesting, and challenging field to work in.

The best FNP-related nursing career is based on your individual aptitude and interest in the topics covered. For the best long-term satisfaction, choosing the right career path is crucial to being happy in your work and getting the most out of it. Making the right choice also helps patients to receive the best care from enthusiastic nursing staff who are working in a field they love.

Thanks to Zoe Price