After considerable further training some nurses take on a wider more extended role as a "Nurse Practitioner" The key difference between a Nurse Practitioner and any other sort of Nurse is the authority to prescribe. Nurse Practitioners can make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment themselves without reference to a Doctor. The list of drugs that they can prescribe from, obviously does not include all drugs, but is a comprehensive and growing list of commonly used, day to day drugs.

The ability to diagnose and prescribe is particularly important in the field of "Minor Illnesses" Here a Nurse Practituioner can take care of a substantial proportion of the patients who are clamoring for immediate appointments for what they think of as emergencies. In fact these are mostly young adults or children with minor viral illnesses, whilst it is dubious if most require any medical attention at all, there are certainly very few who need to see a Doctor. A Nurse Practitioner is well placed to sort these few who may have the potential for more serious problems, from the bulk who need some simple advice, reassurance and medication that can be bought from any Chemist.

 

The main bulk of Practice Nursing is the general clinics. At Farndon these are normally each morning, however for the next few weeks (until April 07) we are in the middle of saying goodbye to Laura and hello to Kate and Paula, so the hours are somewhat variable until assorted notice periods are over. In these general clinics both Kate and Paula will do a wide variety of work including such staples as monitoring Blood Pressure, wound care, dressings for those able to come to the surgery, Health checks, vaccinations for travel, some blood taking, ear syringing and increasingly minor illness advice and management.

 

 

Practice Nurses differ from District or Community Nurses. Rather than seeing people at home a Practice Nurse only sees patients at the surgery, and does no home treatment at all. Practice Nurses works independently, but under the direction of the Doctors. They are employed by the Practice not by the Health Authority or PCT.

 A Practice Nurse can have a wide variety of roles; most have extra training and qualification in one or more particular specialties and may take a much deeper and more responsible part in caring for patients with this type of problem. In general there are two types of Practice Nurse. There is the Clinic Nurse, this is most peoples idea of a Practice Nurse, she works within guidelines drawn up between herself, the practice and their professional bodies. The work may be very detailed and precise involving careful monitoring of complex conditions as well as routine "Clinic" type work, dressings, wound care, blood pressures, blood taking and all the various day to day stuff. Whatever this type of Nurse does do, what she does not do is to make diagnoses herself and prescribe any sort of treatment on her own responsibility and without reference to a Doctor.