A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a more highly qualified or experienced nurse than a staff nurse, and will usually have

completed a Masters Degree in Nursing. There are several different specialisms that a Nurse Practitioner can enter into, e.g. emergency nurse practitioner (ENP).

What is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP)? An Advanced Nurse Practitioner (to give the role its full title) is a nurse that has completed a higher level of training. The full definition according to the RCN is here, but the summarised version is as follows: Makes autonomous decisions for which he or she is responsible Often sees patients with undiagnosed conditions, and using skills in addition to the usual nursing skills set e.g. Physical examination, makes a decision about a care plan Is able to make a diagnosis May order necessary investigations (or tests) to be performed Has the authority to discharge or refer patients from their case where appropriate Provides leadership and consultancy where required How do I become a Nurse Practitioner? In most cases, you need at least 2 3 years of post registration experience, and you will need to have completed a course of study that builds on your nursing skills. Some areas of study include therapeutic nursing, advanced pharmacology or management of patient care. A full list of subject areas suggested by the RCN can be found by clicking the link above. Most job posts for ANPs also required either experience or qualification in management of staff. There is a set of key competencies set out by the RCN, which can also be found in that document, that define the areas of knowledge and skill that a nurse is required to have in order to progress to ANP status. ANPs in the NHS are usually working at Band 7 or 8a level, which attracts a salary range of 30,460 46,621(correct on date of posting). Salaries in the private sector vary according to the role, but will often be similar to NHS pay scales and will also reflect experience and qualifications. On your nursing CV 1. Start with your name, address, NMC pin number and contact phone numbers and email 2. Then give a clear chronological outline of your work history, starting with the most recent and including employer name, job title and dates worked 3. Give a detailed description of daily tasks undertaken including specific responsibilities 4. Give details of extra tasks undertaken in addition to your job role 5. Show evidence of CPD and in particular ENB courses or equivalents, and dates achieved

In your covering letter 1.Give a summary of why you think you are suitable for the role including recent relevant experience and professional development courses 2. Explain why you want to apply for the role and confirm that you are looking to relocate if its not based in your local area

3.Give details of the professional development you would hope to undertake should you be offered the position 4. Show some of your personal qualities that make you the ideal nurse for the position and back them up with evidence. You can summarise a situation where you made use of your communication skills to resolve a situation or used your attention to detail to prevent an error that could otherwise have been made. 5. Let the recruiter know when is best to contact you and whether thats by phone or email. Most recruiters will prefer to call you about a position, so its worth offering a phone number with voicemail facility.

If your CV fulfills all the needs of the recruiter the requirements of the job, then its very likely you will be on the top of their list to contact with further details of the position. If a recruiter does contact you by phone and youre unavailable, always remember to return the call with 24 hours even if its to say youre no longer interested. Its just common courtesy to keep a recruiter updated with your current situation when youre applying for one of the positions they are recruiting for. How to write a cover letter for a nursing job application

Posted 7 Sep 2010 Writing a cover letter for a nurse job can be tough, so our guide below breaks it down into three manageable sections
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The cover letter that accompanies your nursing job application is crucial to getting your CV noticed. Its important to remember that your cover letter is a completely different document to your nursing CV. You should aim to provide more of an overall picture of you as a nurse rather than giving specific employment details and dates, because your CV will give all the specific details you need to convey. A simple way to divide up your nursing cover letter is into three sections. The first paragraph should cover who you are and why you would be suited to that nursing job. The second should cover your nursing qualification and experience, and the third should summarise what you envisage for the role, how you could maximise your potential in that nursing job and requesting an interview.

Talk about you as a nurse The first paragraph is the most important and vital to catching the attention of the employer reading it. Try to open with a catchy sentence that gives a good overall impression of who you are as a nurse and as a person. This is much easier said than done, especially to avoid the pitfalls of sounding arrogant or shy. The key is to promote yourself, your nursing achievements and your personal qualities. A good idea is to start by brainstorming positive words that describe you, for example: confident,

committed, experienced, motivated, ambitious. Then include the ones you chose into a sentence about you. Dont try to force in all of the words you can think, its more important that everything you write sounds like you. Try to structure your answer as if you were responding to this question, What makes you a great nurse who should be considered for this role?

Give some details of your nursing qualifications and experience The second paragraph should give an overview of your qualifications. Again, dont go into specific dates or modules you studied because your CV will contain all the necessary specifics. Instead, draw the employers attention to a particular part of your nursing studies that will be especially relevant to the nursing job youre applying for. Give details of the knowledge you acquired and how you could apply it to the nursing job, and include any professional development courses youve completed that would also be relevant. The aim of this section is to convey your nursing skills and development, and convince the employer that you have the correct experience for the role. A good way to complete this section is take the essential criteria from the person specification given with the nursing job ad, and make sure you address how you fulfill each one. Also give details of the desirable criteria that you meet or dont meet as appropriate.

Your ambitions as a nurse in the position youre applying for In this section you can detail how you see your nursing career progressing if you were to get this role, what professional development you would look to complete to ensure you are as competent and knowledgable in your area as possible. Detail any of your qualities that will assist you in completing your goals, and how you see yourself developing your nursing knowledge. Close this final section by requesting an interview to discuss the nursing job and your ambitions for it further. Always end by thanking them for their time and stating your anticipation of their response. By the time you finish this section you will probably find youve written a great deal more that three paragraphs, and you will need to refine and reduce the words youve written. Proof read your work, with a view to cutting out any unnecessary sentences. Be succinct, but clear, and make sure you dont go over one page in total because you will lose the employer reading it and they will more than likely discard your application for the nursing job. Its really important to write each cover letter for every nursing job you apply for as an individual document. Each cover letter must be tailored to the nursing job youre applying for, and should always contain the most up to date with your current development and nursing experience.

Top 20 Nurse CV Tips

Posted 27 Apr 2010

So you think you already have the worlds best nursing CV? Just in case you might have missed something here are our tips for the 20 must-have items in any nursing CV
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1. Your name 2. A phone number which you can definitely be contacted on 3. An email address which you check at least once a day 4. Your NMC Pin number 5. When you qualified as a nurse or midwife, where this was and in what nursing specialism you qualified 6. Very brief profile. Make this more about your experience and skills than personal traits and please avoid the cliche "work well in a team and on my own" 7. Total years healthcare experience 8. Total years qualified nursing experience 9. Date you started your current nursing job 10. Current job title, for instance, simply "Senior Staff Nurse Outpatients" is fine 11. Current place of work 12. Bullet point your responsibilities 13. List (separated by a comma) some of the most important key-words (see below) 14. Be sure to list all the jobs youve had 15. Use bullet points throughout 16. Keep the same format 17. Then list the courses youve taken and completed. Keep it simple: Course name, where, when 18. Education 19. References 20. If you like, and we like... why not also add in your Desired Job Title and Location. It's really helpful for the recruiter to see what you would like

CV Key-words We think this is a great tip. It gets you thinking about your job and your most important skills. Dont be afraid to use nursing jargon here for activities or medication or practice. For an RMN nurse job, for instance, we might expect to see this: PICU, Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, ward rounds, staff management, PMVA, safe administration of medication, stabilisation, therapy, NHS Trust, qualified practitioner, and also add any additional vocational courses taken in this role

What, no Interests or Hobbies? You'll have noticed we've not included 'Interests and hobbies'. It's a bug-bear for us. We strongly feel that unless you have a noteworthy interest or hobby it's a waste of time writing it. This is because everyone writes: "Reading, walking, socialising with friends and going to the cinema". It says nothing different about you, or helps to enhance the picture of you that you need to paint: your nursing career profile.