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About Nurse Practitioner
You'll become
Average Salaries
Nurse Practitioner workers may earn between $46,000 and $135,000 per year
Are you a registered nurse looking to further enhance your skills, progress your career, and gain a higher level of skills and knowledge in your speciality field? Then look no further than these Nurse Practitioner courses. Nurse Practitioner courses prepare advanced registered nurses to become registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Students have the potential to delve into a range of core subjects, from health research and clinical leadership and management, through to pharmacology, use of medicines, and advanced nursing practices.
You care about others and want to make a real difference with your work. Build in-demand skills for a vital industry and take a leadership role in providing healthcare by studying a nursing practitioner course.
Working in nursing, supervisory and health administration and management roles, graduates of nursing practitioner courses play a vital role in the functioning of our health system. With a growing, ageing population, and a shortage of doctors, we’re increasingly turning to nursing practitioners to provide support and leadership in healthcare setting. With a nursing practitioner qualification, you’ll be equipped with the versatile, relevant skills to perform diagnoses, run tests, and act in a leadership role in a healthcare setting.
As a nursing practitioner, you’ll work in a hospital, clinic or private practice setting, working closely with patients, nurses and doctors to provide extensive care and support. While a nurse practitioner can perform the same tasks as a registered
nurse, nurse practitioners typically take on responsibilities more like those of a doctor’s, by performing diagnoses and tests, ensuring medicine quality, and supervising patient risk and safety. However, a nursing practitioner isn’t a doctor, and still works under the supervision of a physician.
Nursing practitioners study at the master’s level, and may also pursue doctoral studies after completing their studies. As a nursing practitioner, you’ll have the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives and care of your patients, support your team to deliver best-practise work, and enhance your own professional skillset. It starts by studying a nursing practitioner course.
What do nurse practitioner graduates do?
Nursing practitioner course graduates typically work in private practises and managed care facilities, and may also work in research setting. While their responsibilities overlap with those of registered nurses, nursing practitioners typically take on more management-like roles, and in some states, nursing practitioners are allowed to work independently, without the supervision of a doctor. Nursing practitioners must register with their state’s relevant body, and must undertake continuing professional education in order to retain their certification.
As a nursing practitioner, you can expect to perform tasks like:
- Working with other healthcare providers to develop and analyse patient treatment plans;
- Seeing and evaluating patients, including performing investigations and diagnostic tests;
- Consulting with other members of a healthcare team to ensure nursing standards are being met;
- Evaluating and implementing nursing practises and standards;
- Performing interventions and administering medications to patients, monitoring and evaluating patients’ responses to medicines, and performing diagnostic tests;
- Working closely with nurses and doctors to develop and implement holistic care plans for patients with chronic illnesses;
- Consulting patients on lifestyle questions;
- Communicating with patients’ families and answering questions; and
- Supervising and mentoring other nurses and providing judgement and advice.
Career Outcomes
Career Outcomes
Graduates of nursing practitioner courses usually pursue employment as nurse practitioners, but may also practise as registered nurses, or undertake employment in management, administrative or clerical roles in health settings.
After completing a course, you may choose to seek employment as a:
Is nurse practitioner right for you?
You’ll thrive as a nursing practitioner if you:
- Are proactive
- Enjoy leading and making decisions
- Love working with people
- Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Like challenges and problem-solving
- Are a good leader
- Have strong organisational and time management skills
- Enjoy fast-paced and high-pressure work
- Are interested in health and wellbeing
- Can pay attention to detail without losing sight of the big picture
- Are committed to your own professional development
Job opportunities
The Australian Government’s Job Outlook predicts extremely high growth in management roles in the health industry over the next 10 years. While the profession is relatively small, with approximately 18,000 people working in health management, Job Outlook predicts up to 25,000 new roles may emerge in the next decade. As job opportunities for registered nurses are increasing – Job Outlook predicts 50,000 new nurses will be employed in Australia by 2020 – it’s likely other roles in healthcare will expand as well.
Average Salaries
According to PayScale, nursing practitioners may earn an average salary between $46,000 and $135,000 per year, with an average salary of $87,000. PayScale notes that while a moderate positive relationship exists between experience and earning capacity, the majority of nursing practitioners – 37 percent – have less than five years’ work experience, likely indicating the recent and growing demand for skilled professionals in this area.
Industry Bodies
- Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association
- Australian College of Nursing
- Australian Nursing & Midwifery Foundation
- Australian College of Neonatal Nurses
- Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia