The biggest difference is the acuity level of patients they care for and the care setting that reflects that acuity. Adult-gerontology acute care (AGACNP), family (FNP) and adult-gerontology primary care (AGPCNP) nurse practitioners are graduate-educated, nationally certified and state licensed advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).
Acute care nurse practitioners care for patients, focused on 18 years and older, with medically-complex, stable and unstable acute, critical, and chronic illnesses across care settings ranging from hospitals to sub-acute, ambulatory care, clinic, and home care environments. AGACNPs provide a spectrum of care from disease prevention to acute and critical care management.
AGACNPs are uniquely qualified to provide specific healthcare functions to acutely and chronically ill hospitalized patients who may be physiologically unstable, technologically dependent and highly vulnerable to complications.
Primary care nurse practitioners care for patients with acute, chronic and complex conditions across the lifespan, focusing on patients 13 years and older. Family nurse practitioners provide the same type of care to patients across the lifespan, but from children to adults.
Both AGPCNPs and FNPs diagnose and manage self-limiting and chronic conditions and emphasize health promotion and disease prevention, and work in a variety of practice settings. Their services include, but are not limited to: ordering, conducting and interpreting diagnostic and laboratory tests, prescribing pharmacological agents and non-pharmacological therapies, and teaching and counseling.
Acute care nurse practitioners complete clinical rotations in a hospital or acute care setting, whereas primary care nurse practitioners are educated in a variety of settings, including clinics, provider offices, skilled nursing facilities, hospices and private practices.