~7 minute read

Dermatology for Nurse Practitioners

If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely familiar with the roles and responsibilities of nurse practitioners specializing in dermatology which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of skin, hair, and nail disorders. There are different subspecialities within dermatology including medical, cosmetic (or aesthetic), and surgical. Additionally, you’ll hear providers who solely practice in pediatric dermatology, Mohs, teledermatology, hair loss (alopecia), or integrative dermatology, to name a few.

As aforementioned, nursing and nurse practitioner school primarily focuses on the integumentary system with emphasis on incontinence care, wound prevention, cancer screening (ABCDEs of skin cancer) and prevention, and identifying early physiologic changes by assessing the skin early and often. The skin is the largest organ. It’s an excellent identifier of both acute and chronic physiologic changes. Nurse practitioners in primary care, urgent care, and emergency medicine see a large percentage of dermatoses as the chief complaint on a daily basis. Given the lack of education and training, there is plenty of room to improve diagnostic accuracy and confidence amongst NPs in and outside of dermatology.

The Elite NP

Justin Allan, FNP is a family nurse practitioner who has grown a huge platform dedicated to helping nurse practitioners find professional and financial freedom, primarily through entrepreneurship. He promotes the Elite NP Model which is a framework for nurse practitioner-led niche side businesses. He practices what he preaches. I discovered him 2 years ago when he was a guest on the Doctor Nurse Podcast (created by Dr. Sandra Pagenta, DNP who now co-hosts the Success NP Podcast) talking about his annual salary of $450,000 (he has since exceeded this number) using the Elite NP Model. Thousands of nurses have listened to his podcast, read his blog, and enrolled in his courses, myself included. One of those courses is the Dermatology and Cosmetic Skin Care Course.

Dermatology and Cosmetic Skin Care Course

The Dermatology and Cosmetic Skin Care course is a web-based, on-demand course designed to help nurse practitioners build a standalone practice or integrate dermatology and cosmetic skin care into your practice. Allan, FNP collaborated with an experienced dermatology provider named Laura Collins, NP to create the course. The course covers the popularity and significance of incorporating dermatology and cosmetic skin care into your practice with emphasis on the low overhead costs, high markup potential, low liability, minimal to no equipment needed and the seamless integration into your daily workflow. The medical and cosmetic dermatology industries are billion-dollar industries that are estimated to continue to grow as the demand grows for anti-aging, skin of color safe treatments, gender affirming care, and male skin care. The cosmetic content briefly discusses topical therapies, injectables, and lasers. If you're interested in learning more, he also offers a course called, Aesthetics and Botox Clinic course.

Collins, NP provides an anatomy overview, describes the morphology of lesions, and reviews the most common diagnosis and treatment options for adults. Some examples of the different topics are:

-Acne

-Aging skin

-Atopic dermatitis

-Alopecia

-Hypotrichosis

-Melasma

-Scars

-Skin cancer

-Corticosteroids

-Compound skin care

-In-office dispensing

-Compound pharmacies

-Telemedicine

-Marketing

-Treatment guides

-Business practice considerations and management

You can complete the course in a weekend, especially if you’re not distracted. Upon completion of the pre- and post-test and course evaluation survey, you’ll receive a certificate of completion. He offers 9 continuing education credits, four of which are pharmacology hours. The Elite NP is an accredited provider of nursing continuing education developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. The CEs received upon completion can be applied to both the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) recertification and used with all Boards of Nursing.

My Experience

I completed the course last year. I’ve listened to it multiple times and took written notes to help with retention. I highly recommend the course for its comprehensive content from an experienced nurse practitioner. It covers the foundation needed to build your clinical practice, as well as start a business. The price is reasonable, it can be completed in a practical amount of time (even if you work fulltime) to help you avoid analysis paralysis. While dermatology can be intimidating given our lack of exposure and the fact there are more than 4,000 diagnoses, the course makes it approachable. If you’ve researched dermatology, you’ll likely be familiar with all, if not most, of the diagnosis and treatment options presented. Collins, NP is a great teacher and Justin closes out the course by covering the business and marketing strategy. Speaking of marketing, he offers a separate and more detailed marketing course which I also enrolled in and highly recommend.

If you’re looking to get your first job in dermatology, start a practice, or simply increase your diagnostic accuracy, this course is worth your time and money. You can learn more about Justin and his Elite NP Model by visiting his website, reading his blog and signing up for his newsletter, and listening or watching his podcast. Lastly, there’s a private Facebook group and an Elite NP Inner Circle Private Membership program that fosters community. He recently hosted the Inaugural Elite NP Conference and has more live in-person events planned to further advance the community and the mission.

‍Getting Your First Job in Dermatology

On average, people can wait up to 35 days in densely populated areas and up to 75 days in rural communities for an appointment with a dermatologist. Only 3% of dermatologists are Black, while about 4% are Hispanic. These disparities are unacceptable, especially when it comes to health outcomes and mortality rates related to skin cancer and physically devastating conditions that can increase the risk of psychodermatoses. I argue, just as NPs and PAs were introduced to improve outcomes in primary care, we can help improve access to dermatologic care. I would like to emphasize the need for more providers with education and exposure to diagnosing and treating skin of color so we can improve outcomes that significantly impact richer skin tones like melanoma, mycosis fungoidis, and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA or hot comb alopecia), as just a few examples.

If you’re a nurse practitioner interested in practicing in dermatology, you will have to be proactive in gaining access to education and training. It may come as a surprise when you apply for your first job, that dermatology experience is highly recommended and more often than not, required. The typical path of most NPs starts at the beside. Bedside experience and even a decade of nursing experience is not equivalent to dermatology. This blog was founded to increase access to dermatology education and training for nurses and nurse practitioners based on these facts. I aim to help nurses and nurse practitioners be better prepared and more competitive in the market to obtain their first job by getting exposure to dermatology earlier than I did, so you can go further faster.

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Community

Community is essential. An investment in your education is an investment in yourself. If you check out any of Justin’s resources, please tell him I sent you! He absolutely changed my life and I can’t thank him enough for his passion and dedication to helping NPs find freedom. Follow the Mahogany Dermatology Blog, join the DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group member-only Facebook page, and visit the Virtual Preceptor Co. to be part of the community and help to improve access to care.

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Previous Articles on Dermatology Education for Nurse Practitioners:

-My Interview with the Lahey Dermatology Nurse Practitioner Training Program

-Derm Boot Camp with Dr. Boswell

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Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC

I’m a nurse practitioner with a passion for writing, entrepreneurship, education, and mentorship. I created this blog to share my journey as source of motivation and as a blueprint as you embark on your journey. Most importantly, I’m looking forward to increasing access to dermatology education and clinical training for aspiring and practicing nurse practitioners. I invite you to view the mission and vision statement on the homepage to see how we can best partner to make our dreams align.

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