New Hampshire Family Nurse Practitioner Programs
The small New England state of New Hampshire provides many educational opportunities for nurse practitioner students. You may consider becoming a nurse practitioner if you have a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and you want to take on more responsibility in your nursing career. Family nurse practitioners are often in high demand, because they can see patients of all ages and health needs. In addition to seeing and treating clients, you may be expected to supervise and oversee registered nurses.
To find schools that offer a program to earn either your Master’s or you Doctoral degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner, simply explore the schools on this page. Once you’ve found the programs you are interested in, you can request information and start comparing your options.
In New Hampshire, nurse practitioners have a wide scope of practice. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners nurse practitioners have full practice rights in New Hampshire. Unlike some other states, you do not need supervision and delegation from a physician in order to work. You also do not need a collaborative agreement with a physician to perform your job duties. As a result, you can care for your patients as you see fit.
There are many benefits to becoming a family nurse practitioner. You can be a bigger part of your patients’ health care, help them make decisions to better their health, and build strong connections with peers and other health care practitioners. In addition, nurse practitioners in New Hampshire can earn a median salary of $92,200 in NH, as reported by O*Net (2012). Nurse practitioners on the high end of the scale can make up to $119,600 per year (O*Net, 2012), depending upon experience and practice setting.
Family Nurse Practitioner Curriculum in New Hampshire
You may have noticed that family nurse practitioners have a wide range of duties; as a result, the coursework involved in becoming a nurse practitioner is rigorous and multi-faceted. Some of the courses required at most New Hampshire schools are Biostatistics, Advanced Family Nursing Theory, Research Design, Pathophysiology, and Healthcare Improvement.
Many of these courses build upon what you learned during your undergraduate nursing classes. If it has been more than one or two years since you completed your Bachelor’s degree, you may find it helpful to go back and review courses on statistics, pharmacology, and pathophysiology.
Interspersed with your classes are your clinical requirements. In general, you have to complete 650 to 750 clinical hours before you graduate from a nurse practitioner program. These hours put you in contact with patients of all ages and health care needs, preparing you for what it will be like as a family nurse practitioner. Depending on how many classes you take per semester and if you take summer courses, you can expect to spend between two and four years earning your Master’s degree in nursing.
Financing your Family Nurse Practitioner Program in New Hampshire
It’s important to know how you are going to pay for school well before your classes actually start. Student loans are an option, but you should first apply for as many scholarships as you can. Nurses Educational Funds, Inc awards scholarships every year to advanced nursing students.
Family Nurse Practitioner Careers in New Hampshire
The most important step after completing your NP degree is getting licensed by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing. This involves getting your transcript and diploma sent from your school to the Board of Nursing. Once you have your license, make sure to keep it up-to-date.
You must renew your NP license every two years; this means completing 60 hours of continuing education every two years. Since NPs in New Hampshire have prescriptive privileges, at least five of those hours must be in pharmacology. You can learn about new continuing education opportunities and nurse legislation by joining the New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner Association.
Some of the biggest nurse practitioner employers in New Hampshire are Parkland Medical Center, Genesis HealthCare, Consulate Health Care, and Portsmouth Regional Hospital. These are a mix of clinics, hospitals, and urgent care centers, which make up the majority of workplace settings for nurse practitioners.
