← Occupation guides

29-1171.00 · Task explorer

Nurse Practitioners: reported tasks and exploration worksheet

Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

Use the skill profile to plan your next practice →

Read the task inventory

This source lists 27 tasks, including 27 marked Core and 0 marked Supplemental. Labels and dates are retained below. Employers can combine or divide these responsibilities differently; explore the task itself before assuming it belongs in every version of the role.

Task source dates: 08/2021.

27 tasks shown

Core · Task 18399 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.

Core · Task 18389 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.

Core · Task 18393 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.

Core · Task 18382 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.

Core · Task 18385 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.

Core · Task 18396 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.

Core · Task 18384 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Core · Task 18392 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.

Core · Task 18394 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.

Core · Task 18388 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.

Core · Task 18383 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Diagnose or treat acute health care problems, such as illnesses, infections, or injuries.

Core · Task 18380 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Counsel patients about drug regimens and possible side effects or interactions with other substances, such as food supplements, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, or herbal remedies.

Core · Task 18381 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests, such as complete blood counts (CBCs), electrocardiograms (EKGs), and radiographs (x-rays).

Core · Task 18378 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Educate patients about self-management of acute or chronic illnesses, tailoring instructions to patients' individual circumstances.

Core · Task 18402 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Maintain current knowledge of state legal regulations for nurse practitioner practice, including reimbursement of services.

Core · Task 18395 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Recommend interventions to modify behavior associated with health risks.

Core · Task 18387 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Consult with, or refer patients to, appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise.

Core · Task 18386 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Treat or refer patients for primary care conditions, such as headaches, hypertension, urinary tract infections, upper respiratory infections, and dermatological conditions.

Core · Task 18400 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in nursing.

Core · Task 18379 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Schedule follow-up visits to monitor patients or evaluate health or illness care.

Core · Task 18391 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Perform routine or annual physical examinations.

Core · Task 18403 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Maintain departmental policies and procedures in areas such as safety and infection control.

Core · Task 18397 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Advocate for accessible health care that minimizes environmental health risks.

Core · Task 18390 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Perform primary care procedures such as suturing, splinting, administering immunizations, taking cultures, and debriding wounds.

Core · Task 18398 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Provide patients or caregivers with assistance in locating health care resources.

Core · Task 18401 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Keep abreast of regulatory processes and payer systems, such as Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, and private sources.

Core · Task 18404 · 08/2021 · Occupational Expert

Supervise or coordinate patient care or support staff activities.

Make the shortlist useful

  1. Choose one to three activities that tell you something different about the work. Avoid selecting several ways of describing the same interest.
  2. For each, write an example you can discuss or a question that would change your understanding of the role.
  3. Keep source task IDs with your notes so you can return to the same description. Do not include private employer or customer information.

The exported worksheet distinguishes the reported task from your own notes. It supports exploration, not a hiring decision or a validated assessment.

Keep your worksheet

Download before leaving this page. Unsaved writing remains only in the page and is cleared on refresh. Notes and learning actions are not sent to a server. This guide describes an occupation and supports study planning; it does not provide clinical, legal or equipment-operating procedures.

Source and practice material

Occupational context uses the O*NET® 31.0 Database from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0. View the occupation.

Skill Workbench selected and adapted the occupational information and added its own fictional cases, calculations, guidance and worksheets. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.