Lack of awareness of advanced practice nurses (APNs) and their role and responsibilities is one of the impediments blocking the removal of restrictive provisions. According to Safriet (2011), lack of awareness by the general mass on the capabilities of APNs is regarded as the most amorphous among the impediments to reforms. The occupation of nursing is encapsulated and dominated by the medicine profession which have led to a biased perception by the general mass who views doctors or physicians as the best option to providing healthcare services. The construct has led to the general mass not grapping the diverse areas of competency and types of healthcare providers.
Historically healthcare issues were associated with physicians thus other occupations in the medicine field did not gain a lot of recognition in the ancient times despite having existed. Currently these occupations have been formally developed and legally recognized as distinct professional groups. However, their roles and responsibilities have been limited to be practiced under the supervision and direction of doctors eclipsing their relevance and competency. This has led to the mass getting the wrong impression of these occupations who are viewed as assistants to physicians. Very little efforts have been done to give nursing professional the authority and empowerment of practicing their profession in full capabilities.
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A lot of awareness needs to be done to enlighten on the roles of Advanced Practice Nurses and other professional groups to the general mass and senior staff in the healthcare systems. Educating them on the areas which nurses are applicable and the responsibility and extent to which they can provide healthcare will change the perception of the public and maybe be recognized as equivalent health service providers too as physicians. Use of abbreviations such as APN, RN and NP have been cited to confuse physicians and directors of health facilities in understanding the roles and responsibilities that each play (Andrew et al, 2014). Using full terms and clearly defining their roles will help in recognizing their occupation and ease the process of reforms.
References
Safriet, B. J. (2011). Federal options for maximizing the value of advanced practice nurses in providing quality, cost-effective health care. The future of nursing: leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine , 443-75.
Andrew Scanlon, D. N. P., Denise Hibbert, R. G. N., Freda DeKeyser Ganz PhD, R. N., Linda East PhD, R. N., & Debbie Fraser MN, R. N. (2014). Addressing issues impacting advanced nursing practice worldwide. Online journal of issues in nursing , 19 (2), 1.
