Posted: September 5th, 2022

Role of the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner

Role of the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner
An Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) is an advanced nurse practitioner that specializes in treating people from adolescence through adulthood up to and including geriatric patients. To become an AGNP, one must first become a certified nurse and then acquire further education and training in gerontology. Most AGPSs first practice as RNs for several years before considering to pursue AGNP programs. As an AGNP, you can either specialize and practice in acute care or primary care. The focus of these two specializations are related, but yet two completely different designations.
An AGNP who specializes in acute care will most often be involved with clinical duties dealing with inpatients in a hospital environment. Acute care involves treating ill patients admitted to the hospital and ensuring that they receive the necessary care. Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioners specializing in acute care (AG-ACNP) are directly involved with the patients following their health from the age of thirteen up to old age. They work closely with physicians, surgeons, and other professionals in a health care setting. Their main roles and responsibilities involve complex monitoring, ordering diagnostic tests, and analysis. The main goal is to stabilize a patient’s conditions, prevent complications, provide palliative care with the focus of restoring maximum health. An AG-ACNP will most likely work in emergency departments, intensive care, and trauma units.
While an AG-ACNP focuses on treating patients, and adult-gerontology Nurse Practitioner who specializes in primary care (AG-PCNP) is mostly involved with non-clinical duties. This particular specialty focuses on promoting healthy living and illness prevention. Their role and duties include making health assessments, detail health histories, and developing disease prevention and management strategies. AG-PCNPs can also make clinical decisions like ordering laboratory tests, analyzing them, making a diagnosis, developing a treatment plan, and prescribing medications. On top of diagnosing and treating patients, AG-PCNPs also provide a wide range of functions, including routine checkups and immunizations, coordinating community resources utilization, advocating and representing patients in committees, and developing health promotion programs.
The primary focus of AG-PCNPs is to improve care outcomes within a particular population. Since they deal across a broad range of populations, AG-PCNPs can specialize in managing specific chronic illnesses such as diabetes, respiratory conditions, Hi/AIDS, hypertension, health policy, and so forth. AG-PNCPs will typically work in healthcare clinics throughout the community, physicians’ offices, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, hospitals, long term care and assisted living facilities, and correctional facilities. Despite the different regulation laws between states, many Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Partitioners have their own private practices where they can see their patients in their offices, provide home-based care, or both.

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