The Nurse Practitioner Mentor Blog
Learn. Grow. Simplify Your NP Practice.
Weekly blog posts with practical tips, clinical pearls, and real-world guidance for new nurse practitioners in primary care.
Osteoporosis management is more than calcium and vitamin D. In primary care you'll see patients who already carry a diagnosis, or who just screened positive on a DEXA. The real skill is knowing when to treat, which therapy to choose, and how to monitor safely.
Who needs treatment
Start therapy if a...
A patient tells you the statin is making their muscles ache and they want to stop it. The job here is to figure out whether this is true statin intolerance or something else, without giving up on lowering their ASCVD risk.
What counts as statin intolerance?
- Definition: the inability to tolerate at ...
Perimenopause is the stretch of months to years before menopause, when ovarian hormones fluctuate and cycles turn irregular. A lot of these patients will ask you about hormone therapy, and for the right candidate, HRT is safe and very effective for vasomotor and genitourinary symptoms.
The tricky pa...
A patient finally says they're ready to quit, and you want to set them up with a real plan before they leave the room. Quitting is hard. The plan doesn't have to be. Here's a simple, evidence-based approach that pairs combination NRT (patch plus short-acting) with varenicline or bupropion when appro...
We've spent the last couple of weeks building insulin regimens. This one is the practical layer: the tips, scripts, and supply details that make prescribing insulin painless and keep the pharmacy from calling you back.
1) Know your concentrations and containers
- Most insulins are U-100 (100 units/m ...
You got fasting glucose under control with basal insulin, but the A1c is still high or post-meal readings are spiking. That's the moment to add prandial (mealtime) insulin. Here's how I layer it in without overcomplicating things.
When to add prandial insulin
- Fasting glucose is at goal but A1c rem ...
Starting insulin makes a lot of us nervous. It did for me too. The good news is that basal insulin is the simplest place to start, and a clear workflow takes most of the fear out of it. Insulin is individualized, but here's how I start it safely and confidently.
When I consider insulin
Start insulin...
You've decided a patient is a good candidate to come off warfarin and onto a DOAC. The tricky part is the handoff, keeping them anticoagulated the whole way through without overshooting into a bleed. Here's how to do it cleanly.
If you want the warfarin side first, start with warfarin basics and dos...
You inherit a patient who's already on warfarin, and now you're the one managing the INR. Some of these patients have a coumadin clinic, but plenty rely on their PCP. Here's a clinic-friendly guide you can use today.
DOACs like apixaban and rivaroxaban are often easier to manage, but warfarin isn't ...
Not every patient can take estrogen, and not every patient wants a daily pill. When the combined pill is off the table, you still have a full menu to offer. Here's a fast, clinic-friendly run through the non-COC options: who each one fits, how to use it, and the counseling that keeps people on it.
I...
