Being a family nurse practitioner is a very rewarding career. Family nurse practitioners provide medical care to families, focusing on prevention and wellness, as well as diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. The role of family nurse practitioners is to provide primary care to underserved communities and populations that experience barriers to accessing care.
The main reason why you should pursue the family nurse practitioner program is that it is an ideal option for you if you want to help people. This is because family nurse practitioners are experts in caring for patients with a wide range of health problems, from common illnesses such as colds and flu to more serious conditions such as diabetes or cancer.
The world is changing fast, but there’ll always be a need for good nurses—and FNP programs are preparing them every day. So go ahead and get started on your FNP journey today.
You can choose to advance your FNP journey with an MSN program in both offline and online modes. MSN-FNP programs online will not only help you gain an advanced understanding of the principles of family medicine and how they apply to health care but also enable you to put those principles into action in clinical settings across the country.
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Growing Demand for FNPs
There is a growing demand for FNP, and that’s great news. As the baby boomer generation gets older, they will need more care. The average age of the U.S. population is rising, and with it comes a rise in chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure. There are also many people living longer than ever before, which means they have more time to develop these chronic illnesses. This increased demand for healthcare means that there will be an increased demand for primary-care providers like FNPs.
In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs for nurse practitioners will grow by 52% through 2030, significantly faster than the average growth for all occupations combined over the same period.
Moreover, as per the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), there are about 355,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) in the United States, and about 70.2% of them work in primary care.
Diversity of Practice
The FNP scope of practice includes infants to adolescents, and young adults to seniors—similar to a family physician. You’ll have the ability to care for patients at every stage of life and be able to address their unique needs.
In comparison to the 2001 Canada census, the 2021 census counted more than 861,000 people who were 85 years of age or older in the country. With a 12% increase over 2016, the population of people aged 85 and beyond is one of the age groups with the greatest growth. At the moment, 2.3% of people are 85 years of age or older. That’s why it’s important that nurses who specialize in family medicine have this kind of expertise in their toolkit: they’re needed now more than ever!
The diversity of practice that the FNP program offers is one of its most compelling benefits. The ability to work with so many different types of patients means you’ll be able to develop specialized expertise in certain areas, which can lead to more job opportunities down the line.
Moreover, family nurse practitioners are younger on average than physicians and can offer a more youthful perspective for patients in their 20s and 30s, who may not feel as comfortable interacting with older doctors.
High-Paying Salary and Job Security
Nurses are some of the most sought-after professionals in the world, and it’s not hard to see why. They are compassionate, hardworking, and reliable—and they get paid well for their efforts. But as more people seek out careers as family nurse practitioners (FNP), it has become necessary to examine how much they earn.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses had a median annual income of $77,600. The average hourly pay was $37.31 an hour. Nurse practitioners earned significantly more than this average: $110,000 per year average, with some making more than this amount depending on where they worked and what specialty they practiced.
One of the most attractive aspects of pursuing a family nurse practitioner program is the job security it provides. With the shortage of nurses in the United States, there are more jobs available than there are qualified candidates to fill them. This means that even if you don’t have experience working as a nurse, you can still get a job as one.
Summing Up
So, what’s the bottom line? Why should you pursue a family nurse practitioner program?
It’s a great way to help people, and it’s a growing field that will always need more nurses. It’s a versatile degree that will open up lots of possibilities for your career, no matter where you decide to work. And it’s fun, too.
