Nurse practitioners and what they do
Nurse practitioners are expert registered nurses (RNs) with extensive experience and education.
They can perform a range of health and wellbeing functions typically associated with a general practitioner, such as:
- assessing and diagnosing medical conditions
- prescribing medicines
- requesting and interpreting tests (e.g., imaging tests such as X-rays and ultrasounds, blood tests)
- making referrals to a medical and/or allied health specialists.
Each nurse practitioner has unique skills and expertise, so if you’re unsure if your NP can do something for you – just ask them! They will be more than happy to give you helpful advice.
Where to find a nurse practitioner
There are over 50 nurse practitioners employed across the ACT public and private health sector.
Nurse practitioners work across a range of different areas, including diabetes, palliative care, wound care, mental health, walk-in centres, and aged care.
They may work in their own stand-alone clinics, or work within larger healthcare teams.
You might have been treated by a nurse practitioner at a hospital, Walk-in Centre or in the community.
Roles and responsibilities of nurse practitioners
Nurse practitioners can provide a wide range of services and treatments for you and your loved ones, including:
- diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries
- issuing a sick certificate for people who are unwell and cannot go to work
- assessing, diagnosing, and treating many work-related injuries.
- assessing a person’s fitness to drive
- writing prescriptions for specific medicines that are covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
- witnessing non-written health directions, but one of the two witnessing professionals must be a medical practitioner
- requesting blood and imaging tests (e.g. x-rays and ultrasounds) that are subsidised by the government through hospitals or Medicare
- requesting and interpreting any diagnostic pathology or imaging examination within their scope of practice.
Nurse practitioners cannot:
- authorise workers’ compensation or Comcare certificates - they must be completed by a medical practitioner working within their scope of practice
- perform a medical termination of pregnancy (MToP)
- authorise paperwork required as evidence by the ACT Road Transport Authority
- authorise a death certificate as required by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 (ACT).
The nurse practitioner's role and responsibilities are grounded in the nursing profession’s values, knowledge, theories, and practice.
For more information, visit our page on the roles and responsibilities of nurse practitioners.
Sharing your concerns about the care a nurse practitioner provided
Nurse practitioners, like other regulated health practitioners, are responsible for the care they provide and must follow national standards and guidelines.
If you have a concern about the care you or your loved one received, it is always best to first raise your concerns with the nurse practitioner involved.
If you do not feel comfortable doing so, then you can contact any of the following for assistance:
- the nurse practitioner’s employer
- ACT Human Rights Commission
- Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
Meet some of our ACT nurse practitioners
Juliane Samara has worked in many different settings across the ACT and is now working in the Specialist Palliative Aged Care (PEACE) service at Clare Holland House.
Juliane and her team work with residential aged care facility staff, families, residents and GPs to plan and deliver symptom management and provide end of life care.
Juliane gives presentations at conferences and education days, and is involved on national committees, professional organisations and hospital working groups.
Chris Helms began nursing after volunteering with nurses and public health workers in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Since then, he’s worked in many different settings, including in a remote Aboriginal community using his advanced knowledge and skills as a nurse practitioner.
He has since opened his own private practice in Canberra where his patients benefit from his holistic and person-centred care.
Lan Wu arrived in Australia in 2008 where she studied nursing and began her impressive career by specialising in alcohol and other drugs. She has worked extensively in QLD while gaining further qualifications to become a nurse practitioner and psychotherapist. She is currently working in her private practice in Canberra where she treats patients who need support for drug and alcohol issues.
Nurse Practitioner, Maria Bayani began nursing in the Philippines which took her to many different countries before she settled in Australia.
It was her dream to become a nurse practitioner as she loves the advanced scope of work and using her experience and scientific knowledge to help patients.
She is now seeing patients at the Tuggeranong Walk-in Centre.
The five Walk-in Centres across Canberra have a nurse practitioner as the clinical leader.
The nurse practitioners work with advance practice nurses seeing patients every day of the year for free treatment of non-life-threatening illness and injuries.