About Stephen

Stephen Ferrara

I’m Dr. Stephen Ferrara, a practicing Nurse Practitioner with over 10 years of clinical experience. I’m a senior clinical associate at a large urban hospital system in the Bronx, NY and I’ve owned and operated the largest Nurse Practitioner retail based clinic operation in New York State. I have experience in college, correctional and men’s health.

I have my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Nursing as well as my Master’s degree, and recently I attained the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree! I’m active within my state’s nurse practitioner association and have lectured at numerous conferences.

In addition to blogging here at OnlineNursePractitionerPrograms.com, for the past 3 years I’ve authored A Nurse Practitioner’s View. I have a passion for health care technology and integrating evidence-based practice into daily practice.Thanks for stopping by! I hope you find the information on this blog useful for your educational and career endeavors into the field of nursing.

NP Career Option: Faculty

Who better to teach nurse practitioners about their important role in health care than nurse practitioners? Today, I’d like to highlight a very much needed career option: clinical faculty. In general, the nursing faculty shortage has been well documented. The … Continue reading

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Happy Nurses Week 2012

This week is designated National Nurses Week around the country to recognize and support the healthcare sector’s largest workforce, nurses. Nurses week concludes on May 12th, Florence Nightingale‘s birthday –  which is not a coincidence since she is regarded as a nursing … Continue reading

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Meaningful Use Dollars for Nurse Practitioners

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published the amount of dollars that has been paid out to Nurse Practitioners under the 2009 HITECH Act’s Meaningful Use attestation. As of March 2012, 5152 of 13,202 eligible Nurse Practitioners have been paid a total of $109,218,169 … Continue reading

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DNP Reflections: Part III

This is the third and final blog post in this series of Doctor of Nursing Practice Reflections. Here are the first and second blog posts in the series. The post below was written at the conclusion of my DNP program … Continue reading

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DNP Reflections: Part II

This is the second blog post in a three-part series on my end of year reflections for my DNP program. You can read my first reflection about the end of year one of the DNP. The post below was originally … Continue reading

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DNP Reflections: Part I

I completed the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree last May and it was an intense 3 year ride! One of our requirements was to write an end of year reflection for the academic year. Reflection allows one to deeply think … Continue reading

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A Ball of Wax: Cerumen Removal

One of the common patient maladies that I encounter is ear wax, also known as cerumen. “Cerumen is a hydrophobic protective covering in the ear canal. It acts to shield the skin of the external canal from water damage, infection, trauma, … Continue reading

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Joining Forces to Support Veterans & Military Families

Last week, over 150 state and national nursing organizations along with over 500 nursing schools representing 3.1 million nurses pledged their support to the White House campaign, Joining Forces. “Joining Forces is a national initiative that mobilizes all sectors of society … Continue reading

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Workplace Wellness

Americans are spending increasingly longer hours at work. The longer hours can increase stress and reduce personal time usually reserved for self-care, exercising and the like. To this, add the fact that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has … Continue reading

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When to Start Looking for Your First Nurse Practitioner Job

As we find ourselves nearing the middle of April, many nurse practitioner students will be graduating from programs next month. As many NP students are starting to feel the end of the semester crunch with final exams, final papers, graduation, … Continue reading

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