Nurse Practitioner Role and Setting: The Definition of Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Nursing Practice Role, Clinical and Non-Clinical Role of Nurse Practitioner (Research Paper Sample)

Nurse Practitioner Role and Setting
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Nurse Practitioner Introduction
The health care system today is a complex and drastically changing mechanism with its typical peculiarities. It unites different specialists in order to make people’s life better, healthier, and longer. This paper will explore both the clinical and non-clinical roles of one of these specialists, the nurse practitioner. The research includes the strong theoretical background of the nurse practitioner’s profession. It also defines what the nurse practitioner profession is, outlines the role of a nurse practitioner (NP), and reveals the main obstacles that the NP must overcome to achieve success.
The Definition of Nurse Practitioner
A nurse practitioner is a nurse who has acquired specific knowledge and clinical experience, possesses impeccable decision-making skills, and performs activities according to the laws of the country in which he/she is credentialed to operate (Naylor & Kurtzman, 2010). The NP’s profession is often considered to bring the biggest number of misconceptions as people interpret it in a wrong way.
Most people believe that a nurse practitioner is the same as a regular nurse, which is a completely false assumption. Pursuant to the aforementioned definition, it is quite clear that there is a striking difference between a nurse practitioner and a regular nurse. First of all, it is obvious that a nurse practitioner possesses higher education and accreditation to initiate the practices needed. In essence NPs obtain higher qualifications and skills as compared to regular nurses.
Advanced Nursing Practice Role
The nurse practitioner’s role defines itself as being clinical since it directly promotes the patient’s recovery after being under the influence of a disease. Another important aspect of the profession is that it plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the patient. Nurse practitioners in possession of the necessary education and extensive knowledge of healthcare standards and legal regulations, are capable of preventing the patient from being treated in a wrong way thus ensuring the patient’s safety. In addition, the nurse practitioners not only act right in order to ensure the patient’s recovery and safety but also prevent other medical workers from acting in a wrong or unethical manner. In this case, nurse practitioners can be perceived as effective and critical team leaders, sufficiently equipped and skilled in nursing practice, its competencies, and associated tasks (Iglehart, 2013).
Clinical and Non-Clinical Role of Nurse Practitioner
A nurse practitioner is under the category of advanced nursing practice. This means that their practice and standards are termed as some of the highest in the field of nursing. NPs play vital roles in the care of patients and make important contribution to the degree of patient care in clinical and non-clinical medical settings (Dalton, 2013). Nurse practitioners perform duties under the indirect supervision of physicians and apply their skills and expertise to consult on patient care.
NPs diagnose chronic ailments, promote disease prevention, manage acute episodes, conduct health assessment and order and interpret diagnostic tests (Dalton, 2013). NPs are also concerned with making apt medical treatment referrals by working in partnership with a multidisciplinary team. Another clinical role involves implementing interventions to support the recovery process and facilitating patients transitioning between healthcare settings as well as offering patients and families with appropriate educational tools (Royal College of Nursing, 2012). NPs may also recommend prescription and other medications based on the State in which they provide their services. Some NPs also work independently in private practice, attending to patients and treating them accordingly.
In the United States, medicine is a highly regulated field both at the local, state and nation wide level for NPs. Based on the guidelines of the American Nurse Association, NPs in all the states have powers to prescribe medication to patients. However, only 13 states allow NPs to prescribe medication independently without the supervision of a physician (Dalton, 2013). In this respect, nurse practitioners utilize advanced practice skills to:
* Assess treat, and evaluate chronic and acute illness
* Take healthcare histories and conduct physical tests
* Establish patient’s needs that require referral for more specialized care
* Prescribe and administer medications
* Conduct health screening and disease prevention services
* Apply educations and counseling expertise to encourage healthy behaviors
The Nurse Practitioner collaborates with other health professionals to promote and guide continuous quality improvement initiatives at the personal and organizational levels. In this capacity, they apply their skills and knowledge in negotiation, communication and coalition building, conflict resolution and change management to create a conducive environment for delivery of healthcare services (Dalton, 2013).
Outside the clinical setting, a nurse practitioner identifies and gathers data on and assesses the outcomes of nursing practice for patients and health care systems. In addition, they also develop, evaluate, and utilize processes within the practice setting to see to it that patients receive coordinated health care services which establish client outcomes and contribute to knowledge development (Royal College of Nursing, 2012). Nurse practitioners also implement research based innovations to improve patient care at the personal and organizational level.
In order to ensure the quality of healthcare practices, nurse practitioners engage in evidence –informed practice by critically appraising and applying relevant research, theories, and best practice guidelines in offering health services. Through collaboration with members in different healthcare settings, NPs identify research opportunities, conduc...