Most nurse practitioner schools online offer a variety of specializations in the field of nursing. Generalized studies in nursing can be pursued by people and when it comes to this, the family nurse practitioner program is a great program as it comes with advanced training that allows nurses to deal with responsibilities that doctors have which are to treat, diagnose, and counsel patients. The family nurse practitioner program covers a vast area of study; however, the basics are as follows:
The thing about this kind of program is that students will learn all about advanced anatomy and physiology. As this course is developed for individuals who have undergone a bachelor’s degree in nursing, this course will serve as a brief review of the human anatomy and physiology. This will also delve deeper in human body systems at the molecular level.
The thing about a family nurse practitioner program is that primary care is also a subject that is tackled. The basics of primary care will be something that you are already familiar with since you are already a bachelor’s degree holder. What you have here is a program that will teach you about advanced concepts in the delivery of primary care.
Before patients are treated, they have to be evaluated first and this is the primary focus of any nurse practitioner program. The effective evaluation of patients is important and you will learn about this through advanced health assessment. This will also serve as a review of the basic health assessment skills you have garnered as an undergraduate nurse.
Even if you will be dealing with patients of all ages in family nursing, a lot of the patients here are usually from the older set. Since this is the case, adult and geriatric care will be included in your education. What you will learn here is patient care for people who are past the age of twelve.
Another subject that you will deal with is advanced pathophysiology and it will teach you about patient diagnosis. You can provide a better diagnosis and therefore better treatment once you have identified the pathophysiology of the condition. This includes pathophysiology of both pediatric and adult diseases.
The thing about family nurse practitioners is that they are allowed to prescribe medicines and this is why they also have to learn about advanced pharmacology. During the undergraduate study, nurses are more focused on the nursing care aspect in giving drugs. It is the full specifications of medicines that should be learned by nurses who want to be nurse practitioners as they will provide patients with prescriptions.
Actually, research is a major part of any family nurse practitioner program. A typical requirement that comes with this program is a thesis. What you have here calls for practical skills, research techniques, and critical thinking.
You need enough clinical hours in this case especially because the nature of the job is hands-on. You need enough experience in a medical facility when it comes to this. Enough practice in the medical setting is highly necessary.
When it comes to this, courses differ based on the discretion of nurse practitioner schools. In nursing, you can specialize in various areas if you wish. No matter what area you choose to focus on, you will be dealing with nursing fundamentals such as pathophysiology and health care not to mention anatomy and physiology.
