What is a Nurse Practitioner (NP)?

NPs have all of the benefits of a RN, including immense injection and medication handling experience, combined with advanced education and procedural training to make them the ultimate aesthetic providers (in our opinion of course).

They are registered nurses (RNs) that have been educated and trained for advanced practice (also called advanced practice providers-APPs) and can diagnose and treat medical conditions as well as prescribe medications after 3 years of nursing or NP experience and a post-graduate mentorship (in Colorado).

NPs work as nurses first and must have a bachelor’s degree in nursing before completing an additional 2-4 years of graduate school (depending on the program) and pass a national board exam to become a practicing Nurse Practitioner. So when it is all said and done they have 6-8 years of healthcare specific education plus training.

What are the Benefits of NP’s Nurse Backgrounds?

One of the greatest benefits of Nurse Practitioners is that initial nursing experience. Being the one that handles, administers, and supervises the patient during/after treatment brings a lot of perspective when becoming the one that then prescribes those treatments!

Nurse Practitioners also have great bedside manner and are usually more open to shared decision making and empowering patients when compared to other providers. They are very holistic and think about the whole person and not just one area they are treating.

Because of the prior healthcare experience and training NPs are known to provide safe, high-quality care. So in some states, like Colorado, NPs are able to have full independent practice. This means that they can work independently without the supervision of a physician (after the above noted experience and mentorship). They can be a primary care provider (PCP) or work in a specialty area and can open their own practice.

This has helped close some of the gaps for care with the current healthcare shortage. Not all states offer NPs independent practice but studies have shown that states that do have improved patient outcomes and less hospital readmission rates. Read more about that HERE.