Pacific Grove California Nurse Practitioner Salary And Job Requirements

We should determine the actual job before making a career option. The same could be said in the medical field, where different jobs could be mistaken for others. A Nurse Practitioner is also known as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). They have duties that nurses cannot do. NPs have different work depending on the field they specialize on. Here are the general tasks and the specific work they do.

Nurse Practitioner Career Summary

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Table Of Contents:

What Is The Salary of A Nurse Practitioner In Pacific Grove?

The average salary for a nurse practitioner is around $90,000. The NP receives higher salary than RNs, which is approximately $65,000. This value is lower compared to an NP since an NP goes through more training and education and later earns the right to practice medicine.

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Wherever there is a growing need of NPs, they will be paid more. For example, Hawaii is the highest paying state with an average salary of $115,000 a year. Compared to the average earnings of NPs in the rest of the country, they earn 30% more. While Delaware offers something around $67,000.

Nurse practitioner salary information

**Image Source – BLS.gov

Years of Experience

As far as experienced is concerned as a factor of salary, in this field, even with experience, the salary hardly increases. After 20 years of working, the salary may increase 10-15%.

Expertise

Your capacity for work could contribute to your salary increase. An approximate salary of $99,000 could be given to those with skills in acute care and emergency room skills. The professional may earn up to $92,000 for specializing in family care. The skills of geriatrics and internal medicine both fall somewhere in between these two.

Promotions

Getting a specialization or a promotion may be the only way to earn higher. There are a few processes you can follow to achieve this. An option is to earn $150,000 annually by becoming a Nurse Practitioner Anesthetist. The Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner also earns more than the normal NP. Other alternatives are to become a Family, Pediatric NP, Psychiatrist NP, or an Adult NP. Besides taking these courses, you could earn more by taking other specialization courses. These things will require an additional certification and some more hours of training in that specific field.

Benefits

There are several benefits that an NP could gain. These include paid vacations, retirement planning and health insurance. They are often reimbursed for any further studies that they may wish to undertake to improve themselves. If there are conventions or seminars, they are given registration fees and some allowances.

Since primary medical personnel is short in numbers, the demand for mid-level medical care professionals may increase. There is a high possibility that Nurse Practitioners will receive higher salaries later on. As an NP you are also given more time and freedom to choose which cases to work on.

Average nurse practitioner wage in

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Job Prospects of Pacific Grove Nurse Practitioners

The United States of America needed 170,000 nurse practitioners in 2014. According to BLS, the industry is expected to grow by 31% over the next decade. This means that about 57,000 new jobs will come up in that period. The lack of medical professionals caused this. Doctors and physicians cannot meet the demands of the people. This means that PAs and NPs will continue to be needed for a long time. There is an expected 11% increase in jobs for Family, Pediatric, Gastroenterology, and Hospitalist NPs while jobs for neonatal NPs will have a 34% increase. This is way above the average growth rate of other careers.

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The need for nurses is growing because their techniques in work are focused on the needs of the patient instead of the disease. NPs are more sought for than PAs for this reason.

The need for healthcare in rural areas is also increasing. NPs are the best medical professionals in these areas because establishments are impossible to build there. These medical practitioners may ask help from other physicians to cater to the patients in the area. Most NPs get hired to work for Office of Physicians, Outpatient Care Centers, and General Hospitals.

The need for specialized health care is also increasing. Nurse practitioners are usually specialized in some or the other field like pediatrics, gerontology, acute care and many other things. This means that they can give a more accurate diagnosis of the patient’s problem if it falls in their area of specialty.

Employment outlook for nurse practitioners in

**Image Source – BLS.gov

Nurses are also in demand in the field of education. Medical schools have a shortage of teachers for nurses and medical professionals. Getting a Ph.D. is a requisite for a nurse practitioners to be able to teach. People generally go into consulting or teaching after a certain age. This choice is made by NPs who feel that the regular work in the medical field has already worn them.

Financially speaking, the future for nurse practitioners is quite bright too. The salary of a nurse practitioner is expected to grow about 19% by 2020 because of above reasons. In the field of teaching, nurse practitioners may get as much as $85,000. A high salary as amounting to $175,000 could easily be achieved after a year when you have skills and experience. The salary increase depends on the nurse practitioner’s specialization. Those specializing as nurse anesthetists may receive a salary between $150,000 to $235,000.

The salary and job prospects of any career also depend on the state one is residing in. Those who want to know the data statistics of NP employment could visit Bureau of Labor Statistics. Obviously, it is a career that is challenging and highly accredited, as well.

Nurse practitioner job outlook

**Image Source – BLS.gov

Career Requirements For Nurse Practitioners In Pacific Grove

How to Be A Registered Nurse

First, one needs to become a registered nurse. Earning a bachelor’s or an associate’s degree is needed to become one. Another way is earning a diploma. However, they do not hold as much importance as the other two since some of the clinics and hospitals need you to have some clinical experience before applying for the job. You can get this experience through an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. After this, you must take a standardized national test and then get the license to practice as an RN. You could also try to take a different path and become a Licensed Practical Nurse first.

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Earning Bachelor’s Degree

The next step is to earn a Bachelor’s degree. This is ideal for applicants for a diploma or an associate’s degree. The course Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) needs to be completed. Besides the comprehensive learning of medical procedures, there is also application during internship clinic rounds. One’s experience in the field contributes a lot to the career of a medical professional. You may already have a bachelor’s degree while you were pursuing a career as Registered Nurse. In such cases, there are bridge programs from RN-BSN. Duration of program may depend on certain conditions. It will take more time if you are working while you are studying. There are also bridge courses from LPN-BSN.

Experience

As mentioned before, being experienced is key to getting into of the careers in the medical field. Getting a master’s degree after a bachelor’s degree might be the most efficient way of becoming an NP. The practicality is not provided in this process, according to many senior nurses in the field. For this reason, getting some training is advised if you are planning to get a graduate degree. This is because prior experience is a requirement in certain NP training programs. This training teaches you how to work with a team of medical professionals, how to work efficiently, how to tend to different patients and how to treat a variety of infections.

Earning a Master’s Degree

To become a Nurse Practitioner, one needs to earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. Many programs accept RNs with a diploma or an associate’s degree. Students who want to be enrolled in other programs needs to have a bachelor’s degree. It doesn’t matter which one you go for, you will be trained for knowledge and application in real settings. While studying to earn the NP title, RNs mostly need to undergo long hours of training. You might also try to get a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree as an alternative.

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Getting A Doctorate (optional)

Additionally, one can opt to get a Ph.D. in any of the specializations after the master’s degree. In this way, you can have more reputation in the field and you may have higher salary. You can choose to specialize in fields like family care, gerontology or health systems.

State License and Certification

The state license is a requirement for those who want to be an NP. Requirements for licensing may vary in every state. Others have a set of bachelor’s degree and programs they accept. To become a nurse practitioner, it is important for every candidate to have a valid RN license, a master’s degree in nursing and to pass the state licensure exam. The licensure exam differs depending on the specialization you are choosing. You can pass your application and requirements in any establishments under the American Nurses Association such as the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.

In general, you will need an associate degree or a diploma to become a registered nurse. Then, you need to earn a bachelor’s degree, which will expose you to real life medical situations. Then, you choose the best specialization and earn your license after finishing your master’s degree.

What Work Is Done by A Pacific Grove Nurse Practitioner?

General duties

Physicians and other medical professionals of the same level supervise nurse practitioners. Diagnosing and treating patients are also part of their jobs. If patients need to undergo medical tests and other proceedings, they can are also allowed to conduct them. After the results are out, they can interpret and discuss them with the patient. During surgery, they could assist as a surgeon or as an anesthetist. They could also handle high risk surgeries.

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A more patient-centered treatment approach is done by nurse practitioners. Their patient’s needs are more important to be able to treat them effectively. Most usual advises include prevention because they want to keep their patients away from diseases before they occur. Patients under NPs will receive consultation including some advices on avoiding illnesses or injuries.

In general, nurse practitioners need a specialization before they take the licensure exam. The specific duties of an NP depend on this specialization that they have chosen. Here are the most common duties they do.

NPs Specializing in Families

These NPs take care of the whole family. They can deal with patients of every age and help avoid illnesses within the family. Families can receive high quality health care because the practitioner works with a physician.

NPs Specializing in Psychiatry

Patients who have mental issues may be handled by experts including the psychiatric nurse practitioners. These professionals can prescribe medicine and do therapeutic consultations with them. They cannot interpret psychological tests, though. They can choose to look at the results from the testing and then work with a professional psychologist or psychiatrist to determine a treatment plan for the patient.

NPs Practicing Pediatrics

As the name suggests, pediatric NPs look after kids of all ages – from newborn babies to 18-year old kids. The neonatal NP belongs to this specialization. This is the work of the nurses you find in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Kids can have a smoother puberty process through the help of pediatric NPs. They are also the ones who give immunizations and vaccines to children.

Working as a Gerontology NP

Old people are the patients of those working as gerontology nurse practitioners. They help by recommending the ideal activities and treatments to address existing illnesses and prevent them from worsening. Since old age is often the onset of many diseases, it is their responsibility to look after the old people and reduce the progress of such diseases as much as possible. They are also responsible for coming up with fitness plans for such people who will need it to live for an extended period.

The mentioned are only few of the specializations a nurse practitioner have. There are several others that an NP might try to get into according to his or her own interests. Each of these specializations offers a different amount of salary. The Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetis (CRNA) is included in the list of highest paid specializations . Now that you know the different roles that your job may entail, you can make an informed decision about your career choice.

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