Nurse Practitioner

The healthcare industry is growing fast, due to an aging US population and the fact that people are living longer and require an increasing amount of care, especially in their senior years. One of the fastest growing professions within the healthcare field is nursing, with nurse practitioner careers being especially attractive to both new students pursuing a future in the field as well as with those who have been working as nurses for years. The reason that this profession in particular has become such a popular one has to do with the much higher average salary compared to other nursing jobs as well as the many options available to people working in this nursing specialty.

There are a few different ways that you can become a NP, depending on your level of experience as a nurse. Those who are looking to get into the profession but have no experience in nursing can choose from two year Associates programs or four year Bachelor’s programs. For those interested in the profession who are currently licensed and/or registered nurses, it may be possible to receive your certification as a NP through a certificate program from an accredited nursing school. Regardless of whether you receive your certification through a two year program, a four year program or a certificate program, you will need to sit for and pass a national examination to receive your licensure. In most states, NPs need to continue their education in order to maintain their licensure as well.

As mentioned above, one of the most attractive things about the profession is that there are a lot of options for career paths in this field. You can choose to specialize in a certain area of practice, each of which will offer a different range of opportunities as well as different salaries. Some of these specialties will require additional education, while the knowledge and experience needed for others can be acquired on the job. Even though most jobs in the field are in hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities, there are many other options available, including schools, private businesses and the military, to name a few.

The salary range for NPs can vary greatly depending on your level of experience and where you practice; the average starting salary in the US is roughly $65,000, but this can be significantly higher or lower depending on location and other factors. Once you gain some experience in the profession, your salary will tend to reflect this and overall, this is one of the highest paid categories in the profession of nursing.

With high demand, a relatively high starting salary and exceptional stability, a career as a nurse practitioner is one which is drawing more and more highly skilled individuals who have come to see this as a viable career which provides a variety of rewards.