NP Pulse: The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner (AANP)
May 20, 2026 · 26 min · 10 segments
Over one million firefighters provide their life-saving services in the U.S today. Treating firefighters requires an awareness of the unique stressors they face, including cardiopulmonary risk…
And I think, Julian, you told me earlier there's over one million firefighters in this country, so this is an important population to understand as we take care of them.
And I think one thing, one term that our listeners are going to hear a lot during this podcast is the word exposome, and I had no idea what that was, but it's an important term.
Mary, can you define this term and what NPs need to know about this, what exposome-informed care is as we go further in our discussions?
I'm a science nerd, so I kinda wanna know the whys behind something, because if I can't explain it to my patients, why are we bothering? So the exposome was defined by Dr.
And when you think about firefighters, we're talking about chemical, physical, and mental stressors, and how does that impact what we do.
And then when I think about the NP, especially family practice ones, we're womb to tomb.
So I think the exposome literally translates in how we care for that population and how we're looking at those things.
The science behind the exposome has really been exciting in terms of how those stressors to the firefighter have kind of manifested in metabolic and microbiome changes, and I think that really informs our discussion for today.
And when I was just doing my research, the exposome is really anything any individual comes across throughout their life, from the time they're born to the time they die, including the food they eat, the environment they live in, how much exercise they get, all the things that really impact their health.
So obviously firefighters have a lot more different exposures than the average citizen today, would you say?
I would agree, and I think it's that role of occupational professionals like myself and the family practitioner kicking all of these cumulative exposures into fact, not just the occupational, not just the outside of the occupation.
And I think, Julian, you told me earlier there's over one million firefighters in this country, so this is an important population to understand as we take care of them.
And I think one thing, one term that our listeners are going to hear a lot during this podcast is the word exposome, and I had no idea what that was, but it's an important term.
Mary, can you define this term and what NPs need to know about this, what exposome-informed care is as we go further in our discussions?
I'm a science nerd, so I kinda wanna know the whys behind something, because if I can't explain it to my patients, why are we bothering? So the exposome was defined by Dr.
And when you think about firefighters, we're talking about chemical, physical, and mental stressors, and how does that impact what we do.
And then when I think about the NP, especially family practice ones, we're womb to tomb.
So I think the exposome literally translates in how we care for that population and how we're looking at those things.
The science behind the exposome has really been exciting in terms of how those stressors to the firefighter have kind of manifested in metabolic and microbiome changes, and I think that really informs our discussion for today.
And when I was just doing my research, the exposome is really anything any individual comes across throughout their life, from the time they're born to the time they die, including the food they eat, the environment they live in, how much exercise they get, all the things that really impact their health.
So obviously firefighters have a lot more different exposures than the average citizen today, would you say?
I would agree, and I think it's that role of occupational professionals like myself and the family practitioner kicking all of these cumulative exposures into fact, not just the occupational, not just the outside of the occupation.
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