Real World NP

Paps. How can such a common primary care intervention cause so much confusion? How often to screen, how to understand any findings that are not black and white, how to advise your patient about next steps – you would not be the first NP to feel overwhelmed with abnormal pap results in your inbox. This week, we’ll take some of the mystery out of this challenging clinical topic, and help you underst...

Whether you are a brand-new NP or you have been practicing for a while, the AANP has likely done something that has made your job easier.  But what does the AANP actually do and how does it work? In this special one-on-one interview with Stephen Ferrara, President-elect of the AANP, we got the opportunity to ask him questions from the Real World NP community. We talked about: ✅ What AANP is...

Depression in the primary care setting – super common. With a shortage of mental health providers and increasing numbers of patients with symptoms, depression is becoming a leading primary care health concern. If you feel unsure or unprepared for these patient encounters, you are in the right place. This week, we’re taking some of the mystery out of working with patients with depression in the pri...

By the time the patient with insomnia makes it to primary care, they have probably been struggling with sleep for a while, and have probably tried some things on their own – without luck. And now they’re hoping YOU can fix it, preferably…tonight? Insomnia is a murky clinical topic; it’s not always as simple as not getting enough sleep. If you aren’t sure where to start with the patient with insomn...

Let’s be real: the first few years of practice as an NP can be TOUGH. Not only do you have this vast amount of new clinical knowledge to put into practice, you’re also learning the ins and outs of how a clinic runs (for better or worse), and adjusting to being the place where the buck stops. Is it really surprising that you are wondering if it gets better? It’s a kind of taboo topic, even though i...

Labs interpretation for new nurse practitioners can be confusing, and most new grads don't feel well-prepared by what they learned in NP school. In this podcast episode, I break it down with a SUPER interesting case study from my first year as an NP, and make the approach super simple with 3 steps, including the top do-not-miss diagnoses. Join us for the Lab Interpretation Crash Course for Nurse P...

Managing anxiety in primary care is super common, but especially now during the pandemic quarantine. In this podcast, you'll learn: ✅ When it's anxiety... and when it's not ✅ How to assess symptoms, history and the best tools to make it faster and easier ✅ The step-by-step to manage anxiety, and what to do if it's not working. There's SO much I could say about anxiety and mental health, let me...

Your friend, your aunt, your patient in your primary care office - everyone seems to be talking about migraines. But is it a headache or is it a migraine? How do you know the difference? As a new grad, it’s not unusual to feel like you have been thrown into the deep end when patients present with a migraine or a headache. It’s not a super black and white topic, and patients sometimes have a hard t...

Patients who come into primary care for a headache are often worried that it’s something very serious - and it’s your job to know whether it is or not. Many headaches are nothing overly serious, but as a new grad, it can be hard to know just how concerned to be and what to do with your concern.   Let’s build your confidence and demystify some of the grey areas of headaches. In this video, we’...

LGBTQIA+ cultural competency helps not only our patients to feel safer, seen, and supported, but it also improves health outcomes. Many providers aren’t sure what that competency looks like, or even where to start. It’s more than the correct pronouns and language – but how much more? In this week’s episode, we talk with Terra Anderson, who uses they/them pronouns, is a somatic therapist, and LGBTQ...

If even thinking about a patient with syncope makes you feel a little lightheaded yourself, you are in the right place. Your patient passed out, so their family insisted that they see their PCP. Now they’re in your exam room, and you need a roadmap to see what happened, what is going on, and how we got here. Let’s talk about how to approach the visit for the patient with syncope in primary care, w...

Have you found yourself needing to give feedback to your MA or support staff – with no idea where to start? You are not alone. As an NP, your role is unique; you’re not the boss, yet you are expected to give some level of guidance and leadership. And when what a staff member is doing isn’t working, that message usually needs to come from you.   Let’s talk about how to give feedback to your MA...

Context is key for the pediatric patient with decreased appetite. Getting a sense of what is normal for the patient and their overall health goes a long way in deciding how to approach the visit. This week, let’s talk about where to start when you see these patients, and how to get the context that is so essential for these visits. ✅ What to know about the patient before you even walk into the ex...

Well child visits can be very intimidating for new Nurse Practitioners, even if you love working with children. There are so many questions to ask, so many developmental elements to consider – it’s easy to feel a lot of pressure not to miss anything in these visits. This week, let’s talk about ways to come into these visits with tools to make it easier for you and to set your mind at ease. ✅ Top...

Fatigue is a tricky clinical topic that can seem overwhelming in a primary care visit – sometimes even for the seasoned NP. Having a game plan can help with the stress of these visits and increase your confidence when you see these patients. In this week’s episode, let’s talk about what you need to know to be prepared for the patient with fatigue. ✅ Strategies to approaching diagnosis ✅ How to g...

Epigastric pain as a chief complaint happens ALL the time in primary care. And we all order labs to help rule out pancreatitis, but most clinicians feel uncomfortable with diagnosing pancreatitis in primary care. Even though it’s not that common, it’s certainly a red flag diagnosis to watch out for. In this episode I cover: ✅ The main causes of pancreatitis ✅ What labs to order and what to look...

Some chief complaints are more stressful than others. Abdominal pain is CERTAINLY one of them, especially for new nurse practitioners. In this episode, I give my top systematic hacks for diagnosing abdominal pain in the primary care setting to make sure you’re not missing anything and are providing safe care. Read the blog post here. ------ Download the FREE Ultimate Resource Guide for NP ________...

Patients presenting with an acute diarrheal illness is one of the MOST common chief complaints in primary care. They’re also typically worried, wondering if they need antibiotics AND usually want some sort of testing. My last episode was part one of assessing this chief complaint, and I focused on the important history questions, physical assessment and the most important risk factors and triage c...

Acute diarrhea is SUCH a common chief complaint in primary care. In this week’s episode I’m covering acute diarrhea diagnosis for new nurse practitioners in primary care.  Including: The approach to diagnosis What “doorways” to keep track of The most important history questions Triaging the most dangerous presentations Whether to order labs or not! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

The transition from RN to NP is TOUGH. It's exhausting, stressful, but oh so worth it. We need to be careful, though, because too much stress and not enough strategic prevention can lead to burnout and something called compassion fatigue, which can fizzle out our drive and passion-- and worse, may even lead to leaving the profession altogether. In this episode, I'm covering: - The risk factors, si...

Prescribing weight loss medications in primary care is SUCH a common challenge for new nurse practitioners. It feels like there are so many options and things to keep track of. This week’s episode is a follow up from the last episode about weight management counseling-- all about weight loss medications in primary care. This week I cover: ✅ Which patients are candidates for weight loss medication...

Weight management counseling in primary care is such an important skill, and it’s truly the foundation that patients need before we can start addressing weight loss medications. In this week’s episode, I’m covering my approach to weight management counseling in primary care, that will hopefully help you feel more confident in your visits. I cover: ✅ How to talk to patients, including actual easy...

I’m SO excited to share this interview with you. I’m interviewing two pelvic floor therapists -- a family nurse practitioner who has gotten additional training, and a physical therapist with a specialty in pelvic floor therapy. This is SO IMPORTANT. It seems like a hidden corner of medicine that we don’t learn about in school, or maybe it’s touched on when it comes to dyspareunia or urinary incont...

Interdisciplinary collaboration is SO important in primary care. It’s a tragedy when we’re each rockstars in our own bubble of a profession, but aren’t collaborating or communicating enough to fully understand what each profession actually does. I’m absolutely obsessed with physical therapy, and it’s a HUGE key to success for patients with musculoskeletal complaints in primary care-- but I didn’t...

When we’re nurse practitioner students, we’re so focused on the clinical aspects of our jobs that most of the time when we graduate, we’ve caught by surprise. There’s an entirely new role we need to step into as well: delegating, supervising and managing staff members. It’s especially tricky when you’re supervising someone, but you’re not technically their boss-- like medical assistants and nurses...