Become an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

What you'll do: An acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) provides advanced nursing care to patients suffering brief but severe illnesses, typically in an emergency department, ambulatory care clinic or other short term stay facility. ACNPs diagnose and treat acute medical conditions, working in collaboration with the physician and other members of the health care team. The ACNP profession is one of the more fast-paced nursing career choices, and it is loaded with responsibility and variety.

Degree you'll need to practice: Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Certification: Must be certified by your State Board of Nursing or receive a national certification from an agency such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Average annual salary: $83,293

Cities where jobs are often found: Cincinnati, Atlanta, Boston, Nashville, Houston and Washington, DC

ACNPs are nurse practitioners (NPs) with a specialty in acute care nursing.

Acute care nurse practitioners must first complete a 2- or 4-year degree in nursing and be licensed as registered nurses (RNs). Most gain experience as acute care RNs before returning to school to earn an advanced degree and become Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs).

To become an acute care nurse practitioner, you will also need to meet these requirements:

• You will need to get a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree that includes specialized ACNP coursework. Nursing schools usually offer this degree as a 2-year program with about 40 credit hours of coursework, plus hundreds of clinical study hours.
• If you already have a master's degree in nursing, you may be able to prepare for ACNP certification with a 1-year post-master's program.
• Once you have completed your nursing school training, you must become certified by your State Board of Nursing or receive a national certification from an agency such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

The current health care crisis in the US has resulted in a particular need for acute care specialists, in spite of a decrease in the number of facilities providing such care. That's because more patients are uninsured or underinsured. Unable to pay for preventative or ongoing medical care, these patients are more likely to turn to emergency rooms and other acute care settings. ACNPs are therefore in tremendous demand in these settings, particularly because they can provide lower-cost primary care than physicians.
_{Sources:
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2010
Salary.com, 2011
Acutecarenursepractitioner.com, 2011}