Registered nurse and Nurse practitioner which one is better and more preferable for college freshmen? explain!

in terms of job oppourtunity, salary and education

which one does more work?

I just was looking this up yesterday too. A Nurse Practioner is supposed to be a lot better than a Registered Nurse even though both are very respectable. A NP is basically as good as a physician and sometimes serves as the primary healthcare provider. They can diagnose and treat common illnesses just like a Doctor can except they have at least a Master's degree or more and training and to answer your additonal question, thse do more work of course. A RN does a lot more busy work than hand-on work. They do aid the patient in basic tasks like giving a shot but they don't actually diagnose problems and they also keep the medical history and such for the doctor. The job outlook is excellent for both careers. The nursing field is always looking but more help and there will always be the sick and dying so you can't go wrong with nursing plus it is very rewarding to the soul. The education for an Rn is having either a bachelor of science in nursing (bsn) or an associates degree in nursing (adn) which is between 2 to 4 years depending how mcuh you want to broaden your knowledge of different nursing. For both careers though you must take a national test and be licensed of course. The salary of an RN is usually between $40,000 and $60,000 and the salary of a NP is a little higher, between $70,000 and 80,000 and some do get more but that's the average salary. If you're thinking about medical school at all, you may not want to try nursing because I was reading that medical schools would prefer you not have a bachelor in a different course of medicine like nursing or physical therapy so in that case you should get a BA in whatever else you'd like and then head to medical schoo. If you just want to be a type of nurse, either one would be great, just depends how much money you'd like to make at least and how much school you're willing to go through. A NP of course require about 6 years after highschool and sometimes more if you want to go further but an Rn could be between 2 and 4 years of school after highschool. I would say a nurse practioner is worth the extra 2 years because it's more pay and it will be more rewarding to get to diagnose and treat patients on your own. It gives you a chance to be your own boss sort of but still not completely on your own. A RN is also great they tend to be the work horse for the doctor. If you've ever noticed the nurses do all the asking of questions and shots and bandaging and the doctor does very little because usually it's minor ailments. Personally, if you become an NP though, it would almost be worth going to school a little longer and just become a doctor because they pay is outrageous and you do the same thing, just with more school, responsibility, and leadership requirements. I put two links below, the first explaining about an NP and the second expalining an RN. Good luck if you decide to pursue one of these professions.



Wow I'm the only one who answered and genuinely re-looked this stuff up and I still don't get best answer. Awesome.

I am from a family of nurses .you must be a registered nurse before you can be a nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioner is an advanced degree more info below.

Nurse practitioner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has completed advanced nursing education (generally a master's degree) and training in the diagnosis and management of common medical conditions, including chronic illnesses. Nurse practitioners provide a broad range of health care services. While nurse practitioners are not trained in medicine, their advanced education in nursing makes this a fast-growing midlevel profession.


Are you possibly thinking LPN vs. RN???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_pract...

A nurse practitioner will be better than a registered nurse. It was already said earlier that a you must be a registered nurse first in order to become a nurse practitioner. Also, to be able to take the master's level courses, you need a bachelor's degree in nursing. Some schools let you go to the master's program without any experience, but to me it's hard for me to turn to a nurse practitioner for help when they have not had any work experience. Finishing the master's program may take an additional 2 years of education. Of course with the higher education, you will make more than the average nurse within your speciality.

One last thing, there are many different types of nurses. If you want to go far within the nursing career, go start with the bachelor's degree. There are restrictions on the LPNs and nurses with an associate's degree cannot hold administrative positions.