Nurse Practitioners

What the job really is

Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

At a glance

• Sector: Healthcare Practitioners
• O*NET-SOC code: 29-1171
• O*NET job zone: 5 — extensive preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
• Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
• Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
• Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
• Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
• Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
• Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
• Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
• Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.
• Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.
• Diagnose or treat acute health care problems, such as illnesses, infections, or injuries.
• Counsel patients about drug regimens and possible side effects or interactions with other substances, such as food supplements, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, or herbal remedies.

Tools and technology

Epic Systems, MEDITECH software, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Word, eClinicalWorks EHR software, Allscripts Professional EHR, Amkai AmkaiCharts

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Registered Nurses
• Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Family Medicine Physicians
• Acute Care Nurses
• Emergency Medicine Physicians
• Nurse Midwives
• Critical Care Nurses

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 5 (extensive preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Nurse Practitioners — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.