What types of patients would benefit from the care of a Nurse Practitioner?
Patients in any setting would benefit from the care of a Nurse Practitioner. The largest Nurse Practitioner specialties are family and adult health. However, Nurse Practitioners serve in other specialties, including gerontology, neonatology, pediatrics, mental health, women’s health, oncology, and acute care. They practice in private Nurse Practitioner and physician practices, school and college health programs, rural and community health centers, hospital inpatient and outpatient practices, employee/occupational health services, long-term care settings, and emergency/urgent care settings. A number of Nurse Practitioners provide care in subspecialties. How and when does a Nurse Practitioner become involved in the care of a particular patient? The majority of the time, the Nurse Practitioner is a patient’s primary provider. The patient either seeks the Nurse Practitioner as his or her provider or is referred to the Nurse Practitioner by other providers.
