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Community Health Nurse Practitioner - Career Profile |
Career OverviewNurse practitioners who specialize in community health have substantial clinical experience and the principle function of their job is to assess the health of a community and to demonstrate proficiency in planning, implementing, and evaluating population-focused programs to improve general health.
Community health care nurse practitioners typically have a knowledge of various specialist areas of medicine, including epidemiology, demographics, biometrics, environmental health, community structure and organization, community development, management, program evaluation, policy development, and case management.
They may also engage in research projects that are relevant to community health care, exploring ways of providing cost-effective care to people of all ages, which is also effective and efficient at promoting the health of an entire community.
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Career RequirementsTo be accepted by a nurse-practitioner program, candidates must be registered nurses and hold at least a Bachelor's Degree in nursing from an accredited institution.
Nurse practitioner training programs last between 18 months and 24 months and typically involve both classroom study and clinical training. The classroom instruction is relatively basic, exploring the most basic issues of preventative health care, proper nutrition, and basic anatomy and physiology, because most nurse practitioners have only the most basic exposure to medical theory.
Practitioners who specialize in family health care have experience in general medicine, amounting to usually at least one year's work of supervised clinical experience. Experience is focused on the general care of families, including adults, children, infants, and the elderly.
Some institutions offer specialist training programs and certification in community health care. More information about training programs and certification is available through the following organization:
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
P.O. Box 12846,
Austin, TX 78711
www.aanp.org
American Nurses Credentialing Center
600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 100 West
Washington, D.C. 20024-2571
(800) 284-2378
American Nurses' Association
8518 Georgia Ave.,
Ste. 400,
Silver Spring, MD 20910
www.nursingworld.org
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties,
National Directory of Nurse Practitioner Programs
1522 K St. NW, Ste. 702,
Washington, DC 20005
www.nonpf.com
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Job OutlookThe general outlook for nursing is extremely positive. For community health nursing specialists, this is again, no exception.
As the health service responses to financial and time pressures, redirecting physicians focus on to treatment of patients in critical conditions will be a priority. Follow-up treatment, pain management, and general care management will be increasingly within the scope of the responsibilities of nurses with the necessary specialist skills.
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Career TrackSee Nurse Practitioner
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CompensationSee Nurse Practitioner
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