Are you currently working as a registered nurse? Would you like to have greater interaction with your patients and provide them with health counseling? Would you like to have more responsibilities and a higher pay but still remain in the healthcare industry? If you answered yes to these questions, you are an ideal candidate to become a nurse practitioner. A nurse practitioner is qualified to counsel patients, administer treatments and prescribe medicine. A nurse practitioner also enjoys a far greater annual salary in comparison to a registered nurse. Let's take a look at how to make this jump from registered nurse to nurse practitioner.
In order to make the leap from registered nurse to nurse practitioner, it is important to first build your confidence by taking into account that a nurse practitioner is essentially the same as a registered nurse, but has just some more education and training. You are already far ahead in the journey of becoming a nurse practitioner since you are a registered nurse. You must pursue a Master's Degree in your specialized field, which will take approximately two years to complete. You will receive a mix of both classroom study and hands-on clinical training in this timeframe. If you happen to be extremely busy and could use more flexibility, you may consider taking some online courses as part of your degree. You may need to continue your current job as a nurse and the benefit of an online course is that it lets you work on your timeframe. You can complete coursework either before your job or after. After you complete your advanced education and training, you must then take a national exam in order to obtain licensure.
A nurse can absolutely make the jump from registered nurse to nurse practitioner. As a registered nurse, you already have the advantage of being far ahead on the journey to becoming a nurse practitioner. You must complete a Master's Degree in a specialized field and then obtain state licensure by completing a national exam. While all this may sound very tough and challenging, you will earn recognition among the medical community and enjoy a substantially higher salary.
