Home Health Nurse Practitioner Career
What Do You Do in This Career?
Home health nurse practitioners (NPs) work with patients and their families at their homes to provide health care and advice on how to maintain healthy lifestyles. They travel to patients’ homes when they are ill or unable to travel, often serving the elderly and disabled. Part of the job is also to help at-risk families across age groups. Other types of patients may include those recovering from illnesses or accidents, cancer patients, and women who have recently given birth. In addition to providing primary care, these NPs may also supervise and train home health aides, provide preventative care, and help families create plans for diet, exercise, and medication.
Salary and Career Information
- Salary: Average salaries range from $58,112 and $100,562. This can vary widely depending on your location, education, experience, and services provided. Some employers may even offer bonus incentives for some positions.
- Home Health NP Requirements: Before you can practice as an NP, you must be a licensed registered nurse (RN), obtain either a master’s or doctoral degree, and pass a certification exam depending on where you want to practice. States vary in their licensing requirements. Some specialties have their own exams as well.
- Work Environment: This can vary immensely depending on the care you provide. Many home health NPs will spend most of their time traveling to patients’ homes or nursing homes, and sometimes even other heal care facilities. Other work settings may include hospitals, clinics, and other health care centers.
What Kind of Coursework Can You Expect in This Program?
As NPs who serve a variety of patients, home health nurses must have a general education in subjects from nutrition to psychology to physical rehabilitation to geriatric care. They need to have a thorough understanding of medical interactions, and interactions between diet and medicine, as well as be able to teach families how to care for one another. Coursework not only covers the regular nurse practitioner material, but also provides insight on how to work with families, recovering patients, children, and the elderly with all their individual concerns.
Earn an Online Nurse Practitioner Degree
Online nurse practitioner programs have grown in popularity in recent years as more accredited schools have begun offering online alternatives to these degrees. Combining flexibility with the lack of campus visitation required these programs are ideal for working professionals. By clicking on links below, you can request information from each school about its tuition, classes, and programs.
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Georgetown University — Stationed out of Washington DC, Georgetown University is a cultural and social hub and is one of the oldest schools in the nation. The school has two online nursing programs available, an MSN in Family Nursing and an MSN in Midwifery and Women's Health. Georgetown is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. |
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Kaplan University — Kaplan University's online presence is almost unmatched, offering over 170 online degrees and programs, including MSN in Nurse Administration, MSN in Nurse Education, and MSN in Nurse Informatics. However, there are also 70 campuses across the country for those interested in a more traditional education. Kaplan is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. |
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University of Phoenix — While it may not be surprising that the University of Phoenix is based in Phoenix, AZ, the school does have over 200 additional locations around the country. Phoenix has more than 200 online programs available, with nursing degrees in Health Education, Health Informatics, and a general track. Phoenix is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. |
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American Sentinel University — American Sentinel University is an online college focused on technology, business, and healthcare. The school offers several nursing programs like the RN to MSN bridge programs or the MSN in Nursing Informatics. All of these programs require no campus visitation and can be completed online entirely. ASU has an accreditation by the Distance Education and Training Council. |
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Capella University — Based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Capella University is an online school with over 37000 current students across the nation. Its online programs like MSN in Nurse Educator (Bridge option also available) have one-to-one tutoring, accelerated study, and low student to teacher ratios. Capella holds several accreditations, including The Higher Learning Commission and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. |
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