Peculiarities of Nurse Practice

Abilities that define the role of advanced nurse practice entail enhancing health outcomes for their patients and populations in a specific clinical area of the scope of practice of nursing. Being an independent provider is one of the main characteristics that need to be discussed, this leadership role is used to assess, treat and diagnose clients along the lifespan. Evidenced based practice combined with ethical principles in decision making is also a major ability achieved by advanced nurse practitioners.

I was admitted into South University to achieve my career goal as a Family Nurse Practitioner. As an FNP, patient-focused care is delivered in diversified clinical locations, these settings, extend from private to public services in which care can be provided as an acute or long-term in the community. Patient care is delivered across the lifespan, and it can involve from teaching a new mother how to breastfeed her first newborn to help a grieving family cope with the loss of a family member. The focus for the FNP is to treat individuals as a whole, holistically, by finding the root to certain health conditions beyond some given lab results, family nurse practitioners learn how to build a trusting relationship with their clients and promote healthy lifestyle and provide guidance so that patients can live to their fullest potential.

The advance nurse practice role can be described or classified as clinical or non-clinical depending whether direct patient care is provided or not. For some of the reasons I have stated previously, FNP’s are cataloged as being clinical. The responsibility for this role, is to have a direct relationship with their clients and their families, in order to be able to diagnose, manage, and evaluate treatment most efficiently. Nurse practitioners comply with the clinical description. Since the promote disease prevention by teaching healthy practices to their clients, they are also able to treat diseases and manage them and can also be involved with the individuals throughout the lifespan. In order for nurse practitioners to work independently, they are extensively trained in diagnosing and differentiate various results, ranging from normal to atypical findings, and provide appropriate interventions. As discussed, individuals are addressed holistically, nurse practitioners take into consideration the patient’s environment, family, and culture.

Researching different studies about the nurse practitioner concept, I came across this study conducted by Kutzleb, Rigolosi, Fruhschien, Reilly, & Flynn (2015). The findings stated that adding a nurse practitioner as a team member, benefitted several vital aspects. Patients, their families and physician colleagues, saw an advantage to having such role in the workforce. It was noted that health care costs were minimized, one of the explanations for this phenomena, is that nurse practitioners provide continuity of care, and are able familiar with community resources that benefit individuals during the discharge process. This leads to fewer readmissions and decreased length of stay of patients. A different study conducted by a few researchers in the medical field have stated that by 2025, there will be remarkable deficiency of primary care providers in our country, but the enlargement of the nurse practitioner function can diminish this burden, according to experts. This study also focused on NP state regulations that might diminish the approach to primary care.

After this study concluded, it was demonstrated that in the states where nurse practitioners were allowed to perform independently, had less probabilities of having a greater 30-minute drive to the closest primary provider. This result reinforces the need to allow nurse practitioners full autonomy in order to benefit primary care and access to healthcare to individuals, as well as, aiding the multidisciplinary team in providing the best patient centered care. The nursing profession has evolved outstandingly, encouraging nurses to expand their skills and clinical care with advanced nursing practices. As researched in this paper, nurse practitioners are a great asset to organizations, communities and interdisciplinary team.

References:

1. Hamric, A., Hanson, C., Tracy, M. F., O'Grady, E. (2014). Advanced Practice Nursing: An Integrative Approach, 5th Edition. [South University].
2. Kutzleb, J., Rigolosi, R., Fruhschien, A., Reilly, M., Shaftic, A. M., Fruhschien, A., Flynn, D. (2015). Nurse Practitioner Care Model: Meeting the Health Care Challenges With a Collaborative Team. Nursing Economic$, 33(6), 297–304.
3. Neff, D. F., Yoon, S. H., Steiner, R. L., Bejleri, I., Bumbach, M. D., Everhart, D., & Harman, J. S. (2018). The impact of nurse practitioner regulations on population access to care. Nursing Outlook, 66(4), 379–385.