Nurse Practitioner Career Trajectory (Research Paper Sample)

Nurse Practitioner Career Trajectory
University
MN550
of 2015
Preferred Areas of Practice and Demographics
Having been a nurse at the infancy stages of the nursing profession during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale had a difficult time accessing data to understand the primary causes of death, and the means through which she could use these statistics to improve health as well as influence public opinion. The increased availability of this information today raises awareness on the areas in medical field that require increased attention. Marginalized areas and communities residing in them have minimal access to basic health care services (Bodenheimer, 2006). With this in mind, it is fundamental for a nurse practitioner to take into consideration the demographics that require medical attention but which fail to access these services due to marginalization.
As defined by Laustsen (2013), "demographic and geographic data reflected significant dichotomies between urban and rural practice. Rural NPs face challenges of providing care with more distant physician specialists and reported the use of a greater number of CSPs." Nurse practitioners as anyone on healthcare need a certain level of supplies and conditions created to be able to provided standards of care. Rural areas have the inconvenience of shortage of supplies and poor conditions for work environment. While sorting which area a nurse practitioner is likely to incur one’s practice, the first thing they have to consider prior is accepting a job proposal showing whether the individual possess the ability to be creative and innovative while providing the standard of care and patient safety. Within the city, the most important and constant issue will be the fact of not being able to provide the right customer services above and beyond the customary care. While one edge will be poor and primitive, the other will be obscene and recalcitrant about the deliverance of services by always expecting the latest technology and customer services from the point of entrance to the exit of the consult date. The population will always set a point of service; infants will be accompanied by their parent and in many cases their other close family members, making the care almost impossible. The geriatric population will always have a great enthusiastic form of seeing life while they can be very good historian and taking forever to complete any simple task in between anecdotes. The setting can be acute, non-acute, outpatient or home base care. Each of them will create their own rules and regulations that will set them apart from each other at any given time. To this author and future nurse, being a practitioner in the home health sector will be a very attractive position to work at. Even when geriatric and older adult will be the bulk of this population, it will be a great continuation of the present work as home health nurse. The home health sector will always be set apart from the clinical setting either acute or continued care, and also will be located close to boundaries of home and at the city limits, which will make it easy to reach them in case of patient emergencies or need of re-assessment of care at any given time.
Steps to Practice as Nurse Practitioner
The first step in becoming a nurse practitioner is getting the necessary credentials by becoming a registered nurse. The academic goals that lead to this include getting a bachelor’s or an associate degree from an accredited university or a diploma from a ratified vocational training program. While some educational trajectories bring together the steps of becoming a Registered Nurse and netting a bachelor’s degree, some students may choose to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN) while on the road towards becoming an RN. After earning the bachelor’s degree, it is imperative for one to gain experience before seeking for certification as a nurse practitioner. This allows one to earn a number of skills, including how to work efficiently and effectively in different medical environments, how to address different patient problems, and how to become part of medical professionals’ team within a clinical setting (Bodenheimer, 2006). One also needs to earn a graduate degree before obtaining state certification and license. While every state has specific licensing requirements, all NP candidates seeking for a license must have a master’s degree, a valid RN license and should excel in a national examination offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
As a resident of the south state of Florida there are a set of pre-requirement needed prior to licensure. The State Board of Nursing mandates that any given individual seeking licensure as NP needs to have a valid register nurse license of the state of Florida, proof of completed approved specialty nursing school program, malpractice insurance, clean conviction record, and a complete fingerprints record. Once all the requirements are met by the applicant the state board will allocate an approval to test and the individual will seek the right entity to take an examination. As soon as one passes the test, a licensure number will be assigned. "You may apply for this computer-based test year round and test during a 90-day window at a time and location convenient to you. The exam allows 4 hours to answer 200 questions (175 scored plus 25 pretest questions that are not scored) (American Nursing Credentialing Center, 2014)." Then the DEA number can be obtained as well to enable one prescribe medication to patients. However, it is always important to take into consideration that in Florida, there is no authority to prescribe controlled substances by NPs. DEA fees vary from 270 dollars to 531 dollars depending of the previous affiliation to diverse nursing entities (Drug Enforcement Administration, 2014).
Professional Support
Nurse practitioners will always have their back covered by the physician with whom they work side by side. "To be successful, nurse practitioner integration into primary care teams requires, among other things, a redefinition of professional boundaries, in particular those of medicine and nursing, a coherent model of inter- and intra- professional collaboration, and team-based work processes that make the best use of the subsidiary principle" (Contandriopoulos et al, 2015). By looking for the unconditional support and knowledge of the physician of the house, a nurse practitioner will be able to develop professional skills and, more importantly, the safety and confidence of the patients under their care will never be underestimated. As nurses, advocacy for the patient will always be a priority and by looking for professional and moral support from the physician on charge, one will be able to promote that nursing pledge.
Professional organizations that have been set aside for health care practitioners serve as a fundamental source of support for nurse practitioners. These organizations play an integral role in advocating for the nurse practitioners besides modeling the quality of healthcare that they deliver. These organizations allow NPs to advance their professional development, encourage leadership, and place them in a position to shape policy decisions, which function to improve quality within the health care practice (Naylor &Kurtzman, 2010).
Areas of Involvement
According to Kenward (2007) nurse specialists and nurse practitioners are advance nurses, but they far differ from each other on their scope of practice. By continuing the education from nurse to advance nurse practitioner the areas open from a narrow window to an open door. For example, in a case like incision and drainage of an abscess, a nurse can only treat the abscess before and after the incision is performed; while as a nurse practitioner, it can be both including the procedure of incision and drainage as well. As family nurse practitioner on home health care, the opportunity to treat patient while in the comfort of their houses is very important. It will be proactive and will promote wellness to all of them by preventing hospitalizations when they wait for their doctor’s appointments dates. Nevertheless, while performing home health care as an NP is important to maintain HIPPA regulations in mind as they can easily be breached at any given time (CMS, 2014). On the other hand, advance nurse practitioners have the opportunity to wear many hats in their profession. They can be specialized on cardiology, nephrology, pulmonologist, wound care, hospitalist, generalist, family practice, surgery, among many other venues. Education is one of the areas also taking in consideration by many practitioners. In this case being a family nurse practitioner and working with home health care agencies is a very passionate idea that will promote the health of the community and the happiness of those who are taking care of.
According to Naylor and Kurtzman (2010), nurses serve as the single leading entity of health care providers within the United States and serve as the initial point of contact with patient in most settings. This makes them better positioned to carry out specific research that is relevant to both them and their patients. By becoming part of the AANP Network for Research, nurse practitioners can become part of either quick studies or even longer studies depending on their schedule and level of availability. This will give the NPs a chance to be part of a larger entity seeking to improve the quality of health care accorded to patients.
Plan for Lifelong Learning and Professional Development
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