Nurse Practitioner or Medicine

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Author	Nurse Practitioner or Medicine
jessg (offline) Joined: Apr 2009 Location: Posts: 4	Wed May 15, 2013 5:05 pm I have a nursing degree (I also have a law degree) and I am trying to decide whether I should do medicine or the nurse practitioner course ? I would have to gain at least 4 years clinicial experience before I did the nurse practitioner course. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts or has done either? They both seem like they will take at least 4-5 years for me to complete.

2bRN23 (offline) Joined: Apr 2013 Location: Posts: 7	May 20, 2013, 12:52 pm I would suggest medicine. The NP role in Australia is still being looked at in terms of scope of practice etc. Its not yet like in the US where NPs in certain states function independently from Drs. The NPs I've seen seem to be VERY experienced nurses in their specialty who seem to know A LOT however still can't prescribe medications. I believe they can order certain diagnostic tests: bloods and X-rays, that's about it as far as I know.

seraphim (offline) Joined: Mar 2013 Location: Posts: 56	May 20, 2013, 11:25 pm Actually, I have seen the NPs in ED prescribe medication, it is just that they are not allowed to give S4/S8 drugs. Different NPs in different states and hospital have different protocols~ so yeah, their scope of practice is still being looked into.

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