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Home Health Nurse Practitioner - Career Profile |
Career OverviewMany patients with chronic illness or injury choose to return or remain at home. These patients may have a support network in their homes, consisting of family, friends, and other hired support persons, but it is still necessary for many people with chronic illnesses or injuries to receive professional medical support to meet their medical, emotional, and social needs.
Many home health nurse practitioners are also trained to address the needs of the elderly, and in particular those with chronic illness. They are experts at assisting the elderly and their family to obtain the medical, social, and emotional support they need to maintain the best possible quality of life in their declining years.
As the population of the United States ages, as the baby-boomer generation reaches retirement age, and as people continue to live longer, past the age of 65, the need for professionals trained in the care of the elderly will only become greater. Home health nurse practitioners, who have advanced medical training, are amongst the most desirable professionals to fill the void and provide the expert care that the aging population needs.
Versatile nursing professionals, such as nurse practitioners who are trained home health care will be particularly desirable as they are trained to deal with a variety of conditions, chronic and acute, that affect the elderly, but also adults and children.
Home health nurse practitioners work for larger medical organizations, both public and private institutions, and looks set to find ample opportunity for work in the future.
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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 occupational health 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 individuals in work settings.
Some institutions offer specialist training programs and certification in home health nursing. 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 OutlookMost reports suggest that the care of chronically ill patients, and some acute patients, will shift outside of hospitals; in many cases, care of patients will take place in their own homes, with the assistance of trained medical professionals.
Home health nurse practitioners will have a bright future for employment for the immediate future, and their role will probably expand to include administrative, research, and educational duties to facilitate the best possible care for those treated at home.
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Career TrackSee Nurse Practitioner
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CompensationSee Nurse Practitioner
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