What is a nurse practitioner (NP)?

In plain English

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have completed a master's or doctoral program in an advanced practice role and passed a national certification examination. They are licensed and regulated as nurses, by a board of nursing, not as physicians.

Scope of practice is the thing that varies, and it varies by state rather than by individual. Some states grant full practice authority, letting a nurse practitioner evaluate, diagnose and prescribe independently; others require a collaborative or supervisory arrangement with a physician for some or all of that. Any national list has to be read with that map beside it.

NPs certify into a population focus - family, adult-gerontology, pediatric, psychiatric-mental health, women's health, neonatal - and those appear as separate codes on the public record, with family nurse practitioners the largest by a wide margin.

Commercially they are prescribers and decision-makers in their own right, and the fastest-growing prescribing population in the country, which is why a physician-only list understates a therapeutic market rather than merely sampling it.

Training and credentials

A nursing degree and RN licence, clinical experience, then a master's or doctoral advanced practice program and a national certification examination.

Where they practise

Primary care and specialty clinics, retail and urgent care, hospitals, community health centres, long-term care, telehealth, and independent practice where the state allows it.