-
Educate patients about self-management of acute or chronic illnesses, tailoring instructions to patients' individual circumstances.
-
Perform routine or annual physical examinations.
-
Provide patients or caregivers with assistance in locating health care resources.
-
Supervise or coordinate patient care or support staff activities.
-
Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
-
Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
-
Treat or refer patients for primary care conditions, such as headaches, hypertension, urinary tract infections, upper respiratory infections, and dermatological conditions.
-
Recommend interventions to modify behavior associated with health risks.
-
Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing.
-
Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
-
Maintain current knowledge of state legal regulations for nurse practitioner practice, including reimbursement of services.
-
Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
-
Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
-
Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.
-
Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
-
Schedule follow-up visits to monitor patients or evaluate health or illness care.
-
Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
-
Advocate for accessible health care that minimizes environmental health risks.
-
Perform primary care procedures such as suturing, splinting, administering immunizations, taking cultures, and debriding wounds.
-
Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests, such as complete blood counts (CBCs), electrocardiograms (EKGs), and radiographs (x-rays).
-
Diagnose or treat acute health care problems, such as illnesses, infections, or injuries.
-
Counsel patients about drug regimens and possible side effects or interactions with other substances, such as food supplements, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, or herbal remedies.
-
Maintain departmental policies and procedures in areas such as safety and infection control.
-
Consult with, or refer patients to, appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise.
-
Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
-
Keep abreast of regulatory processes and payer systems, such as Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, and private sources.
-
Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.