Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)

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A family nurse practitioner (FNP) is an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) with a graduate degree in nursing, who is licensed and certified to diagnose and treat patients with acute and chronic illnesses and minor injuries across life span ("Role & Scope," n.d.). Many FNPs started their nursing careers as bedside nurses in acute hospital settings, and they are not ready for the possible monotony of working for a private practice. The ever-revolving door of an emergency department (ED) and other acute care settings, along with the wide variety of patients, allows an FNP to perform to their full potential, and possibly increase work satisfaction if they are not ready to transition to an office setting. In the most acute settings, such …show more content…

Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc. (PPHS) has two local hospitals with EDs, two convenient care clinics, and one community care clinic. The nurse practitioners and other advanced practice practitioners (APP) who work for PPHS rotate through all three settings, and the community care clinic is the only facility that does not have a physician readily available for collaboration. The community care clinic’s and convenient care clinics’ volume varies throughout the year, but the average number of patients per day is between seventy and eighty. Many days during peak flu and pneumonia season consist of more than one hundred patients per day. The smaller ED averages approximately 110 patients per day, and the larger ED averages approximately 160 patients per day. During peak flu and pneumonia season the daily average for the larger ED is greater than two hundred on a regular …show more content…

In 2006, APRNs, including FNPs, were granted the authority to write prescriptions, including Schedule III, IV, and IV drugs. If a Schedule II drug is needed for the treatment of a patient treated by an APRN in the ED, a physician is readily available to prescribe the medication. A patient at the community care clinic that is deemed to need a Schedule II drug for pain control is sent to the ED for further evaluation. The Georgia Composite Medical Board requires that all patient records that include the prescribing of a controlled substance must be reviewed by a delegating physician (Stephens,

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