The role of adult nurse practitioner, or ANP, has many employment settings to choose from and in this article, we’ll take a brief look at the adult nurse practitioner salary and career outlook as well as what this career path involves.
Role of the Adult Nurse Practitioner
As mentioned, the adult nurse practitioner can serve in a wide range of roles in many different health care environments. However, the general duties which the ANP is responsible for tend to be similar throughout all of the various settings in which they may work.
The adult nurse practitioner will essentially be responsible for the assessment, diagnosis, and management of both chronic and acute health issues in patients 12 years old and up. The adult nurse practitioner will also spend a great deal of time educating patients on proper health management skills as well as disease prevention.
Adult nurse practitioners will practice in ambulatory care environments, internal medicine practices, long term care facilities, local clinics, universities and other schools, rehab facilities, specialty clinics, and even correctional facilities.
Education for the Adult Nurse Practitioner
Several schools offer ANP nurse practitioner programs throughout the country. Most of these programs will place didactic and clinical emphasis on a broad range of general public health topics and the treatments for many common chronic and acute conditions. However, they also tend to focus on the health care delivery system as a whole, which provides a general framework for preparing the adult nurse practitioner to offer care in a wide range of clinical settings.
Many of the ANP nurse practitioner programs also offer the opportunity to choose a “sub-specialty” specialization track. This is especially suitable for aspiring nurse practitioners who have decided that they would like to work within a particular field, but would prefer to have the flexibility to work in other general health care environments. Some of these areas of secondary specialization may include gerontological care, cardiovascular disease prevention, and often palliative care.
Adult Nurse Practitioner Salary and Career Outlook
The career outlook for the adult nurse practitioner is especially favorable. As the “baby boomer” generation begins to age, the demand for adult health care will experience unprecedented levels over the next 10 to 20 years. Employment opportunities for the ANP should grow faster than the overall average job growth which is expected for the nursing profession, which is estimated to be 22% through the year 2018.
This will likely have a positive overall impact on the adult nurse practitioner salary as well. The adult nurse practitioner salary tends to vary widely due to the broad range of health care settings in which the ANP may practice. However, a recent survey by Indeed.com estimates that the current average adult nurse practitioner salary across all national job postings for this position is $95,000, making it a very attractive area of specialization in terms of compensation.