Generally, the programs are two intensive years of classroom and clinical training in a specialty that includes courses in pathophysiology, pharmacology, diagnosis, and disease management. Advanced NP certificate courses provide advanced training to nurses who already have a master's degree, but who aren't NPs. D.C. Nurses are flocking to nurse practitioner programs. According to the AACN's annual enrollment survey, enrollment in nurse practitioner programs increased 4.7 percent last year, continuing a trend of increased enrollment. Best of all, graduates had jobs waiting for them when they graduated.
Wages rise with experience and vary according to specialty.
The two million RN positions in 1998 will grow to 2.5 million by 2008. Most of the new RN positions will be in home health care, long-term care, and ambulatory care, reflecting the aging baby boomers. But other forces are driving demand as well, including technological changes that require more skilled nurses and the growth of managed care. Nursing demand has always been regional and NPs are no exception. NPs have some sort of prescriptive power in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.