According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the United States had more than 325,000 licensed nurse practitioners (NPs) in 2021. More than half of this number are involved in delivering primary health care. Today, a certified nurse practitioner plays an ever-expanding role in the medical field.
What Does a Certified Nurse Practitioner Do?
In Surprise AZ, as in many American cities across the US, certified nurse practitioners provide a variety of health care services for their patients. These include:
- Wellness care
- Diagnosis and treatment of minor illnesses and injuries
- Screening for the presence of chronic disease
- Monitoring patients with stable chronic disease
- Prescribing of certain drugs
- Requesting and interpreting the results of a variety of both screening and diagnostic tests
- Helping patients manage their disease, medication and related issues
- Coordinating medical referrals
These are in addition to the performance of such normative tasks as writing down the medical history of a patient and examining him or her. Moreover, a certified nurse practitioner is there to provide guidance. She or he offers information on how to prevent disease and how to obtain and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Certified Nurse Practitioners
A certified nurse practitioner plays an ever-expanding role in the medical field. Once restricted to a prescribed position in medicine, today, nurse practitioners are providing primary health care in areas denied to them previously including prescribing medication and ordering and interpreting various diagnostic tests. This increases their ability to provide primary care where it is needed in places such as Surprise AZ.
