Advanced nursing practice is mainly an area in nursing that is concerned predominantly with the advancing the skills, knowledge of the nurses beyond the traditional professional boundaries. The description seeks to identify those roles and activities that are majorly taken up by the advanced nurses, which are beyond the normal traditional scope of the nursing practice. The roles in advanced practice nursing roles require the APNs to work in a clinical patient care setting where there is a high degree of independence and responsibility for the patient care ( Sastre ‐ Fullana et al., 2014 ). The APNs have obtained advanced training and certification, usually including the master’s degree or a doctorate in nursing. The advanced practice registered nurses fall into the categories of the clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, nurse aesthetic, and nurse midwives. They majorly work in primary care and plays a key role in preventive care for the public members. The APNs plays a role in the treatment and diagnosis, managing chronic diseases, advising the public on health issues, and continuous education on matters related to health. The APNs are the most highly trained of all the registered nurses and perform functions that were previously reserved for the doctors. Unlike the ANPs who perform general functions, the APNs are more specialized in specific areas of care.
The advanced nursing practice role that I aspire to be is a nurse anesthetist role. The certified registered nurse anesthetist role entails working in collaboration with the healthcare professionals to ensure the safe administration of medication, the proper recovery process, and overseeing the whole process of patients’ treatment. Due to the much-needed safety and comfort to the patients, nurse anesthetic role requires one to undergo extensive training and experience for one to acquire a license. Focusing on the specialty of gerontology, I aspire to work with the adults and elders to ensure they receive the specialized care and high quality of life by ascertaining that they are safe and undergo a smooth recovery process. My attributes that influenced my decision to aspire for a nurse anesthetist role are effective communication skills, good observational skills, high intellectual skills, and high morals and ethical standards. This nursing role entails collaboration with many other care providers, thus the necessity to have effective communication skills. Also, good observational skills are required for one to be a good anesthetist nurse because they are required to monitor and closely observe the progress of the patients. Work in the healthcare setting also requires high moral values due to the many instances of ethical dilemmas that care providers experience.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Selected Advanced Practice Role
The interview questions about the nurse anesthetist can focus on whether one understands the various types of anesthesia and the criteria used to manage the patient’s pulmonary conditions. Working in this nurse role require one to understand the management techniques for the patients with a variety of conditions and to ensure they are safe during and after the medical procedures. Questions about the interpersonal skills and abilities also come to play when interviewing one on this nurse role. Other than just the qualification, interpersonal skills and attributes are also of importance in the nursing profession. Integrity, honesty, ethics, and communication skills are some of the most significant interpersonal skills for this nurse role.
The Florida Board of Nursing is the regulatory body that ascertains nurses are qualified to practice nursing in any role within the State of Florida. This regulatory body sets the minimum requirements for all sets of nurses and their roles, including licensing, education, and discipline ( Kung & Rudner Lugo , 2015. The regulatory body holds the nurses at minimal standards to ensure safety and high level of competence while delivering care services to the patients. The Nurse Practice Act, which was enacted by the Florida Legislature, sets forward the framework for delivering safe and professional nursing care. The Nurse Practice Act of Florida entails both parts I and part II and ensures that all categories of nurses, including the nurse anesthetist, adhere to the minimum requirements for safety and any practice that poses a threat to the safety of the patients can be prohibited. The law applies to the APRNs in Florida. Any person who is licensed in the State of Florida to practice the professional nurse care and holds a license in advanced nursing practice such as certified nurse practitioners certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, psychiatric nurses, and clinical nurse specialists must adhere to the requirements of the Act.
The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is a professional organization that represents more than 50000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and the students registered under the advanced practice nurse across the United States. As a role under the APRNs and specialists, CRNAs are in charge of administering to at least 40 million patients in primary care in the United States every year. The AANA, as a professional body, stands out to protect the rights of the nurse professionals under this role and to enhance safety and competency within the healthcare setting. For one to be certified to practice under this nurse role, pursuing a bachelor’s degree of science in nursing is one of the requirements. After obtaining a degree in nursing, one is required to acquire some experience working in a health care setting. Upon completion of the education, one must first obtain a license as a registered nurse, which involves passing an approved training program. The exams are given by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) and cover topics such as health assessment, physiological integrity, and infection control (Gadbois et al., 2015). At least one year of experience working in an acute care setting is also required for one to get accredited. In addition to the professional requirements, one must also demonstrate high levels of leadership abilities, observational skills, intellectual abilities, and good communication skills.
An APRN can work in any health care organization providing primary care. The nurse anesthetists work in collaboration with other professionals, such as surgeons to enhance the safety and recovery of the patients. By administering anesthesia to manage the pain and follow up on the recovery of the patients, these nurses need to work together with all other care providers as a team to promote the safety of the patients. The nurse can work in any population within a community to help the patients attain better health and to promote a healthy community.
Leadership Attributes
Leadership attributes play an important role in advanced nurse practice and practitioners. Any healthcare organization setting requires leadership to guide in the clinical practice environment, in the nursing profession, and the system level. The kind of leadership that is provided by the advanced nurse determines the extent of the safety of the care provided to the patients (Anonson et al., 2014). Leadership is determined by the personal attributes of an individual advanced nurse, and the leadership style adopted by the individual also varies depending on the individual.
My leadership style is a democratic form of leadership. This style of leadership in nursing enhances the participation of all members of the organization, including the junior employees in making the decisions. Even though the final decision is for the leader to choose, that decision is reached after collecting information and opinions from all members of the organization. The democratic style of leadership within the nursing profession is the most effective because it encourages teamwork and makes the other employees feel that they are valued thus attempting to deliver their best. The APN collects opinion from other staff members and then seek to find the practical ways of enhancing the safety of the patients (McKeown & Carey, 2015). Every member of the staff is offered an opportunity to take place in finding a solution to the problem within the care setting.
Transformational leadership is an approach to leadership that desires for change in the individuals and the social systems. It creates a value system and establishes a positive change amongst the followers to develop them into future leaders. Due to the rising complexity of the healthcare issues, the ability to adapt to change is increasingly becoming an important aspect for the nurse leaders. Transformational leadership requires that the nurse leaders teach the employees how to be leaders on their own and to participate in the development of realistic solutions to the problems that exist at their departments (Fischer, 2016). Such leadership requires consultation amongst the staff and reaching a common solution to the problems to enhance the safety of the patients. It requires effective communication and interpersonal relationship skills that can motivate and inspire the team members to deliver their best.
The transformational leadership style relates to some of the leadership attributes that I possess. For example, it requires effective communication and good interpersonal skills that can motivate and inspire followers. Effective communication skills are one of my leadership strengths. Also, the democratic leadership style that I possess relates to the transformation leadership in areas where employees are required to take part in making decisions and seeking solutions to the problems in their departments.
Health Policy
At least 23 states have NP full practice authority beginning 2017. Based on the rising need to have more accessible healthcare for the patients who require primary care, states have resorted to removing restrictions on the physician's practice. Alaska is one example of a state that has allowed full practice authority for the FNP/AGNP, and they can now work in primary and acute care. Even though the FNP focuses on the family-focused care for patients of all ages while AGNP focuses on the treatment of adults and geriatric population, the full practice authority has removed the restrictions allowing these practitioners to have a full practice. Also, Arizona State, through the Arizona Board of Nursing, includes the full prescription of the authority for the practitioners. Colorado, Hawaii, and Idaho have also provided a full practice authority for the practitioners to provide care services in the primary care especially for the AGNP, who can also get into a care for the other category of the population other than the adults. However, states such as Florida and California still have a restriction on the full practice for the AFN and AGNP nurses.
Value-based care is a form of reimbursement that ties the payment for the care to the quality of the care rather than the quantity. This kind of reimbursement has come as an alternative to the fee-for-service system. Medicare and Medicaid have provided value-based care models that determines what quality care is and reimbursement is based on the value of the care and not the quality (Shah et al., 2016). The traditional reimbursement system relied on the quantity of service as opposed to quality. The value-based care, which focuses on the quality rather than the quantity of the care, will affect the decisions made by the executive concerning the nursing and AP practice. This model of reimbursement means that the executive will be more concerned about the ways to improve the quality of the care rather than focusing on the quantity. This will be a great move towards promoting and enhancing the quality of care in the United States.
Many laws have been enacted to protect the personal health information of the patients. The patients have the right to privacy, and their information must be protected at all times. One such law is the Privacy Act of 1974, which regulates the information collected by the federal government. This law allows the citizens to know the information collected about them, and they have the right to have their information collected. HIPAA privacy rule is also another regulation that advocates for the protection of certain health information of the patients (Li, 2016). The major purpose of HIPAA is to ensure the protection of the privacy of health information, enhance the security of the electronic records and administrative simplification.
The Commission on College Nursing Education (CCNE) is the agency recognized by the U.S. secretary of education as a national accreditation agency. It ensures that there are quality and integrity in nursing education programs in the United States. It encourages the continuity of the assessment of nursing programs. While the government is responsible for the review of the nursing programs in the country, the American Nursing Association routinely review the proposed regulations by the federal and identify areas of concerns. The ANA can make recommendations to the agency on the proposed changes to the regulations after doing a review.
The current policies in nursing education focus on the need to teach learners how to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare system. This can be achieved through patient-centered care and teamwork, as well as the use of evidence-based quality improvement practices. These policies are important at the time when there is a need to have quality-based care. Making any changes within the nursing profession, however, requires the engagement of multiple parties of concern. The nursing bodies such as the ANA, nurse educators, and policymakers are the key players that must be engaged in the process of introducing a meaningful change in the nursing education system and practice as a whole. Leading to make meaningful changes require lobbying of the interest groups and then making recommendations to the policymakers as well as the agencies such as ANA to seek support. With the presentation of evidence-based research about a particular policy change and its benefit in the nursing profession, involving the stakeholders can be a great step to achieving better policy change.
Conclusion
Nursing as a profession is one of the most significant areas that require serious attention because it concerns healthcare issues. Effective training of nurses is essential in ensuring that the quality is enhanced through increased safety. Any proposed policy changes require the engagement of all the stakeholders to do a review and ascertain the significance of such a change in the nursing profession. Nurses play a key role within the health care sector, and without them, this sector would not function. They remain one of the key professionals that require support from both the government and public to ensure they effectively deliver their duty.
References
Anonson, J., Walker, M. E., Arries, E., Maposa, S., Telford, P., & Berry, L. (2014). Qualities of exemplary nurse leaders: perspectives of frontline nurses. Journal of nursing management , 22 (1), 127-136.
Fischer, S. A. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 72 (11), 2644-2653.
Gadbois, E. A., Miller, E. A., Tyler, D., & Intrator, O. (2015). Trends in state regulation of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, 2001 to 2010. Medical Care Research and Review , 72 (2), 200-219.
Kung, Y. M., & Rudner Lugo, N. (2015). Political advocacy and practice barriers: A survey of Florida APRNs. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners , 27 (3), 145-151.
Li, J. (2015). Ensuring privacy in a personal health record system. Computer , 48 (2), 24-31.
McKeown, M., & Carey, L. (2015). Democratic leadership: a charming solution for nursing’s legitimacy crisis. Journal of clinical nursing , 24 (3-4), 315-317.
Sastre ‐ Fullana, P., De Pedro ‐ Gómez, J. E., Bennasar ‐ Veny, M., Serrano ‐ Gallardo, P., & Morales ‐ Asencio, J. M. (2014). Competency frameworks for advanced practice nursing: a literature review. International nursing review , 61 (4), 534-542.
Shah, T., Press, V. G., Huisingh-Scheetz, M., & White, S. R. (2016). COPD readmissions: addressing COPD in the era of value-based health care. Chest , 150 (4), 916-926.
