Nurse practitioners (NPs) provide advanced care to patients and often perform duties like the duties of doctors. The scope of practice for any NP includes making diagnoses, prescribing medications, ordering, and analyzing medical tests, and providing health treatments for various conditions. NPs can also specialize in certain aspects of healthcare, such as adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners (AGACNPs).
What Is Adult-Gerontology Acute Care?
Adult-gerontology acute care focuses on acute conditions and diseases instead of chronic ones. Chronic conditions typically last for many years, while acute conditions are much shorter-lasting. Although there is no definitive point in separating acute conditions from chronic ones, you can think of acute conditions as ones that can be treated over days, weeks, or just a few months. Acute care is tailored to acute health conditions, and some examples of these conditions include injuries and respiratory infections.
Another aspect of adult-gerontology acute care is its focus only on adult patients. Most healthcare workers in this field do not provide care for children. Gerontology is the study of aging, so workers in this field specialize in providing care to aging adults.
What Is the Difference Between Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioners and Family Nurse Practitioners?
Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) may be confused with adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners (AGACNPs) because they perform similar daily tasks. However, FNPs may care for children and adults and focus on treating chronic conditions. AGACNPs, on the other hand, provide acute care for adult patients.
Another critical difference between AGACNPs, FNPs, and other nurse practitioners is their working conditions. FNPs typically work in physicians’ and doctor’s offices, where they visit the same patients for a long time. AGACNPs usually work in hospitals or outpatient centers where they see different patients daily. Often, AGACNPs are employed in emergency rooms, intensive care units, or specialty units on a hospital campus.
What Does an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Do?
The responsibilities of an AGACNP overlap with some of the tasks performed by other nurse practitioners, but their roles still differ because they focus on providing acute care to aging adults. This means they may prescribe medications just like other nurse practitioners. Still, they will only prescribe medicines for acute conditions that are not meant to be taken permanently by a patient.
Assess Patients and Order Diagnostic Tests
Adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners may perform physical examinations for patients just like other nurse practitioners do. They can also order diagnostic tests to be performed as needed, ranging from blood and specimen tests to electrocardiograms and other imaging scans. Suppose the AGACNP works in an urgent care center, emergency room, or other intensive care area. In that case, they may order tests to be performed urgently, typically on the same day. Deciding when a diagnostic test should be performed is essential for these NPs to care for their patients, especially if acute, life-threatening conditions are suspected.
Evaluate Testing Results and Make Diagnoses
Like other nurse practitioners, AGACNPs must also analyze any diagnostic tests performed for a patient and interpret the results accurately. Sometimes, if a test does not provide definitive results, the NP can order additional tests that may help pinpoint or rule out suspected conditions. Once enough information is collected, the NP can diagnose an acute condition alone or after consulting with other healthcare professionals. It is essential to note that a diagnosis should only be given when there is evidence of a condition, and an NP can usually provide treatment options for a patient’s symptoms, especially in the case of acute conditions, without an official diagnosis.
Document All Information in Patient Files
Just like all other healthcare providers, all nurse practitioners must document their findings when assessing and diagnosing patients in their medical records. That way, other physicians, nurses, and caregivers can access that information and assist in making better treatment decisions. Additionally, medical records must legally be kept for billing and insurance purposes, including all notes a nurse practitioner makes while seeing any patient. Sometimes, NPs will need to review notes made by other healthcare providers, including notes made by those giving diagnostic tests, to help diagnose their patients.
Provide Treatment Options and Prescribe Medications
All nurse practitioners can prescribe medications and create treatment plans for their patients as part of their scope of practice. In the case of adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners, this may mean either curing an acute condition or offering treatment for the symptoms associated with an acute condition.
For AGACNPs who work in an emergency room or intensive care area, providing quick diagnoses and treatments is vital to improving patients’ long-term quality of life. For example, an acute bacterial infection that goes untreated can quickly cause long-lasting chronic complications. It is also essential that nurse practitioners give patients options for their courses of treatment so that they can remain in control of their health, even when an NP may strongly encourage one treatment.
AGACNPs typically give temporary medicines since they specialize in treating acute conditions. Medications may be prescribed once or multiple times over a few weeks or months. When multiple types or brands of medications are available, the NP should be able to choose the medicine that will best improve a patient’s condition with minimal side effects.
Educate and Advocate for Patients
In some treatment plans, a patient may need lifestyle changes, and it is up to the nurse practitioner to educate the patient on how to best implement those changes. For example, a patient diagnosed with heart failure may need to make diet changes to prevent future heart-related conditions, and the nurse practitioner should share information and tips with the patient about making the best dietary choices.
In other cases, a nurse practitioner may work with a team of healthcare providers and might need to advocate for the best treatment for a patient. For example, an ADACNP who directs other nurses might have to advocate that a patient receives a set amount of pain-relieving medication every hour while under the care of those nurses.
Collaborate with Other Medical Providers
Nurse practitioners often communicate with other healthcare providers, including nurse practitioners, doctors, nurses, and radiology staff. ADACNPs need to speak frequently with these workers to make sure every patient is receiving proper treatment, and they may need to ask questions of their coworkers when something is not clear. Sometimes, a nurse practitioner may collaborate with other workers to figure out the best course of treatment for a patient, too, by asking a fellow physician for a professional opinion about a particular medication. Other times, AGACNPs serve as assistants during surgical procedures or managers of a nursing team, requiring well-rounded communication skills.
AGACNP Terminology
Adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners must understand advanced health science topics, many of which are taught in post-graduate programs. These topics are also covered in the APRN certification exam offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which must be taken and passed to become a certified AGACNP. The following are a few terms that you will need to know about to become an adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner.
Pathophysiology – the study of how the body reacts to diseases and injuries. It focuses on changes in the body on the molecular, cellular, and systematic levels and explains how diseases and illnesses progress after being introduced to a person.
Pharmacology – the study of medicine and how the chemicals used in medicines affect a biological system, like a person. Understanding pharmacology is vital for a nurse practitioner who wants to safely prescribe medications to patients.
Epidemiology – the study of how diseases are spread through a given population. Epidemiology is often taught in conjunction with health statistics. By understanding this topic, nurse practitioners can better educate their patients on disease prevention, especially diseases common to a local population.
Therapeutics – treatments that can be planned and given to patients to improve certain conditions and illnesses. Therapeutics can include drug-related and non-drug-related treatments, and integrative treatments, which utilize lifestyle changes and therapies.
Eager to Learn More?
The Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) provides care to individuals with acute, critical, and complex conditions in the inpatient acute care setting. AGACNPs practice in different healthcare settings, such as intensive care, trauma, acute care, and various specialty areas. The focus of practice extends from disease prevention to the stabilization of critically ill patients. This Post-Graduate Certificate will be offered as face-to-face instruction and requires 24 credit hours and 500 practicum hours for successful completion.
Let Florida National University answer any questions if you are interested in our postgraduate programs. Contact us today to learn more.
