What Does a Nurse Practitioner Do?
One clinic morning might bring a child's ear infection, an older patient's blood pressure check and a new diabetes diagnosis, all handled by the same nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioners diagnose, treat and prescribe in clinics, physician offices, hospitals and campus health centers, and many states let them practice without a physician's supervision.
Nurse Practitioner Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a nurse practitioner include:
- Take health histories and perform physical exams for new and returning patients.
- Diagnose acute illnesses and chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension.
- Order and interpret lab tests, X-rays and other diagnostic studies.
- Prescribe medications and adjust doses, following state prescribing rules.
- Create treatment plans and set follow-up schedules with patients and families.
- Counsel patients on diet, exercise, smoking, sexual health and preventive screenings.
- Refer patients to specialists and coordinate care with physicians and therapists.
- Document visits and billing codes accurately in the electronic health record.
- Perform minor procedures such as wound closure, joint injections or skin biopsies within scope.
- Consult with a collaborating physician on complex cases where state law requires it.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a nurse practitioner, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Registered nurse license plus state APRN licensure
- National NP board certification (AANP or ANCC)
- DEA registration for prescribing controlled substances
- Clinical reasoning and differential diagnosis
- Electronic health records such as Epic
- Clear explanations for patients with low health literacy
- Composure with heavy patient loads and urgent cases
- Commitment to continuing education and license renewal
Education and Training
Once you have earned an RN license and finished a master's or doctoral NP program you will need to pass a national certification exam in your specialty before a state will license you as an NP. A growing number of programs award the DNP. With experience, some NPs open their own practices in states that allow full practice.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $117,990 - $156,700 per year, with a median of $132,300.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Nurse Practitioners.
BLS projects employment of nurse practitioners to grow about 41 percent from 2025 to 2035. That is a steep climb. It works out to roughly 29,400 openings a year, driven by an aging population, a shortage of primary care doctors and wider practice authority in many states. New NPs with a few years of RN experience should have little trouble finding work, especially in rural and underserved areas.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Nurse practitioners.