Healthcare Practitioners
Nurse Practitioners
Also called: ACNP (Acute Care Nurse Practitioner), Adult Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), ARNP Specialist (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Specialist)
US median pay
$132,300
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+41%
faster than average
Openings a year (US)
29,400
336,300 employed
Typical entry education
Master's degree
Preparation 5/5 · Extensive preparation
What this job is
Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.
What they do day to day
- Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
- Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
- Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
- Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
- Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
- Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
- Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
- Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
- Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.
- Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Complex Problem Solving4.1/5
- Social Perceptiveness4.0/5
- Judgment and Decision Making4.0/5
- Service Orientation3.9/5
- Coordination3.8/5
- Time Management3.4/5
- Persuasion3.2/5
- Systems Evaluation3.1/5
Knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry4.8/5
- English Language4.3/5
- Biology4.2/5
- Psychology4.2/5
- Customer and Personal Service4.1/5
- Therapy and Counseling4.0/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 5 of 5 — Extensive preparation. Usually a graduate degree (master's, PhD, MD, JD) and extensive experience.
Typical entry education (BLS): Master's degree.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Master's degree65%
- Doctoral degree26%
Who this job suits
Mostly Investigative
Ideas, research and solving problems
Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Conventional
Organising data, details and procedures
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.