Acute

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Salary

A hospital environment is never complete when one only pictures doctors and patients. The most important person who completes this equation is a nurse. Nurses are personnel that help in tending to patients when the doctors are not around. They also help in rehabilitation of the patient and in helping out doctors whenever they see patients. Hence, one cannot underestimate the importance of the nursing staff in a hospital. There are many specialties for nurses. The most common specialty areas for nurse practitioners in hospitals are family practice, adult practice, women’s health, pediatrics, acute care, and geriatrics. An acute care nurse practitioner is especially in a lot of demand now, seeing that they are most well equipped of all to deal with an emergency situation for a patient. However, before choosing this specialty, what many aspiring nurses that wish to work in the emergency care unit always want is to have an idea regarding the acute care nurse practitioner salary range. Before going into the details about the salary range for an acute care nurse practitioner, let us find out more about what exactly an acute care nurse practitioner deals with.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Job Description
An acute care nurse practitioner is involved with providing advanced care to patients that are suffering with severe illnesses. Although nearly 67% of nurses are employed in hospital settings and likewise environments, acute care nurses are almost always employed in a hospital setting due to the nature of their work and the requirement of specialized equipments to carry out their work. Although this is one of the most sought after medical jobs, this is also a stressful job that requires a lot of grit and commitment, which reflects in the acute care nurse practitioner salary. The nurses often require to work in shifts so as to provide coverage in hospitals during days, evenings and nights. They may even be required to be on call to go to the hospital although majority of nurses are associated with ambulatory care positions. Furthermore, if there are emergencies, like a crash or a disaster, they will be in charge of tending to patients that are severely injured.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Salary Range
Coming to the average salary ranges for jobs of an acute care nurse practitioner. The median salary range for an acute care nurse practitioner in the United States is somewhere around USD 80,400 on an annual basis. People with just a few years of work experience also manage to pull somewhere between USD 73,840 and USD 87,000. However, most of the nurse practitioners that were exclusively working in emergency settings earned even more, with the median expected nurse salary being somewhere around USD 86,802. There are also many other factors that affect the salary of an acute care nurse practitioner, like the location and the kind of employment sector. Given below are details regarding the average annual salary as per the department or setting.

Annual Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Salary Based on Department and Setting
Department
Annual Salary (In USD)
Emergency Department
84,835
Surgery
84,084
Neonatal Unit
81,511
Hospital
79,393
Gerontology
77,020
Specialty Setting
76,006

As mentioned earlier, there are many factors that tend to influence the acute care nurse practitioner salary. These are still the more higher paid nurses when compared to other nurses, like a neonatal nurse practitioner. This is mostly because there is a higher liability risk associated with this job and there are also, thus, higher reimbursement rates. This is a very serious job and it is no wonder that hospitals are always on the lookout to offer acute care nurse practitioner jobs to well qualified and well trained nurses. The acute care nurse practitioner scope of practice is also good because as a nurse gains more and more experience, she can eventually become a more skilled acute care nurse. So, if you want to get into a field that pays well and offers an exciting and highly satisfying career opportunity, then the job of an acute care nurse practitioner is for you!

Tags: Acute, Care, Nurse, Practitioner, Salary

Friday, January 14th, 2011 Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) No Comments

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

The word ‘nurse’ lets us in on the basic profession that we are speaking about here. So all that goes as the basic duties of nurses, applies here as well. But what is an acute care nurse practitioner and what are some of the duties that they undertake? Let’s get into another facet of nursing for the time being – a ‘practitioner’ suggests that the professional has the ability to carry forth a practice, for which they have to take up the required professional training and have degrees backing them as well. In the following article we shall be looking into the basic acute care nurse practitioner role and why and how are they an important part of medical jobs.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Job Description

The following are some of the important duties of the acute care nurse practitioner job description:

An acute care nurse practitioner will carry forth varied forms of duties that have to basically do with patient care.
Although they are an important link in not only hospital jobs, clinics, health care facilities and other institutions, they cannot practice on their own without proper degrees and certifications and therefore most acute care nurse practitioners will work under the supervision of doctors and other health care professionals.
An acute care nurse practitioner is the one who is responsible for undertaking certain steps in health care. These steps will work towards the decrease of the patient’s stay at the medical facility.
Their entire focus is on the ways in which they can speed the patient’s recovery by administering excellent care and helping them get better quicker.
Their specialty lies in the fact that they need to treat patients by not only diagnosing them, but also educating them about their medical condition in detail and giving them all the information required about their condition.
At the outset they are the ones that diagnose the patients even before the doctors get there. They examine them for recording varied details that are needed to administer proper treatment.
They are responsible for recording their medical history, along with monitoring and making a record of their ailments, the signs, and the symptoms that they portray. After which they determine the kind of tests that need to be carried out to get a full record of what they want.
They help with all the types of tests that have to carried out like blood and urine tests, scans and x-rays as well as certain other specific and specialized tests that are prescribed on the basis of the patient and his condition.
They need to develop the course of treatment that is to be administered to the patients.
They can also prescribe certain drugs and medicines to the patients.
If they feel that a certain patient requires a more specialized course of recovery treatment, then they will advise them to seek help.
Depending on their specializations, they might be asked to assist with deliveries, acute care, ambulatory services, administer anesthesia in the operating room among others.
They are responsible for managing and treating acute health problems.
They have to be there for the patients and therefore they do all that is required for patient care – these would also include answering their questions and queries regarding all aspects of the treatment and disease.
The acute care nurse practitioner salary gives us an inkling of how important this post is considered! But keeping that aside, I hope this article has been able to dispel whatever doubts you might have had about the workings of an acute nurse care practitioner and the duties that they are expected to carry forth.

Tags: Acute, Care, Nurse, Practitioner

Thursday, September 9th, 2010 Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) No Comments