A rewarding career move: The road to becoming a Nurse Practitioner

Why would you choose the Nurse Practitioner pathway?

Have you ever wanted to advance your career in nursing and enhance person-centered care but remain at the point of care? Have you had a career in one or two specialty areas and would like to further your knowledge, experience, and opportunities in evidence-based practice? The nurse practitioner pathway may be for you.

What is a Nurse Practitioner?

Although Australia has had nurse practitioners for over 20 years, the role is often misunderstood by members of the public, medical professionals, and, at times, by our nursing profession.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) to practice independently and collaboratively at an advanced level in expanded clinical roles within professional, legislative, and regulatory frameworks. (SA Health 2022)

Nurse practitioners combine advanced nursing knowledge and skills with advanced diagnostic reasoning and therapeutic knowledge to provide person-centred care. They can diagnose and manage health consumers with common and complex health conditions (ACNP 2019). They have the skills and training in advanced assessment, diagnosis, prescribing, ordering, and interpreting pathology, x-ray and sonography, and referrals to specialists and ultimately enhance health care.

The title of nurse practitioner can only be used by a registered nurse with endorsement by the Nursing and Midwifery Board.

Studying the Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program

Entry requirements for the Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program:

• holding current general registration as a registered nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
• holding a postgraduate qualification from a recognised higher education institution in a relevant clinical field.

Documentation is usually required including:

• a CV demonstrating a minimum of four years full-time equivalent experience as a Registered Nurse, including two years full-time equivalent as a registered nurse in a clinical field and two years full-time equivalent at an advanced practice level in the same clinical field.
• suitably qualified Clinical Support Team that will assist applicants in the development and extension of their specialist practice which may include nurse practitioners and/ or medical officers.
• evidence that the applicant’s employer is willing to facilitate the extended clinical practice components of the program within their workplace or related agencies (UniSA 2024).

Understanding the role and everyday examples of the pathway to Nurse Practitioner

Perhaps the reason the role is misunderstood is that each role is varied depending on the experience, education, specialty area, and at times, the healthcare context. There are nurse practitioners who work as specialists in diabetes, chronic illness, mental health, palliative care, aged care, renal management, paediatrics, emergency departments and surgical nursing to name a few.

The nurse practitioner pathway is a rewarding career step in the nursing career and the Department of Health and Aged Care has developed the Nurse Practitioner Workforce Plan to increase Nurse Practitioner services across the country. (Department of Health and Aged Care 2023)

Currently, there are 13 universities across Australia offering the Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program. Most course coordinators are experienced endorsed nurse practitioners who can answer questions regarding the courses offered. It can be a fulfilling move in your nursing career.

My pathway to nurse practitioner

I graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from the University of South Australia in 1992 and completed a Graduate Nurse Program at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I went on to complete a Graduate Certificate in Diabetes Education and Management in 2008. Having a keen desire to enhance diabetes education in primary care, I embarked on a Master of Nurse Practitioner course in 2000. I have thoroughly enjoyed the nurse practitioner pathway; however, I was keen to enhance my scope of practice to provide health care for transgender and gender-diverse people. During my employment at the University of South Australia as a Senior Lecturer with two days a week clinical practice, I undertook the University of Melbourne course in Primary care for transgender and gender diverse health care and commenced a placement with supervision partnership with the Modbury Gender clinic. The main reasons for enhancing my scope of practice to an alternate specialty area were the lack of healthcare services in the community and the fact that transgender and gender-diverse people have the highest rates of suicidal ideation and are usually from low socioeconomic situations. (Slotnes-Obrien, 2023) Access to timely health care is particularly important to alleviate mental health and with a 2-3 year wait list for public services and minimal general practitioners in primary care willing to work in this area, there was a dire need to improve services.

A clinic was developed at the University of South Australia city west clinic and within two months the clinic was finalised for the Health Minister’s Award for Nursing Trailblazers. In 2024 the clinic has been finalised for the South Australian Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards. Consumer feedback has been favorable with the clinic sustaining its operations with Medicare benefit NP billings. There are now links to public and community services to enhance consumer care. All in all, it’s been a thoroughly worthwhile and rewarding experience.