Professional Issues Related to the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) There are many professional practice issues that impact the role of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). This occupation is continually changing, and developing. There has been a recent increase in the demand for healthcare services. The growing shortage of primary healthcare providers has led to the need to utilize advanced practice nurses to fill in the gap in areas previously occupied by physicians. This has led to many issues impacting the profession including education, stress and burnout, and changing roles/scope of practice for the profession.
Week One Discussion The original discussion board post from this author discussed the main issues of education, and scope of practice to be the most prominent issues effecting the practice for FNPs. While the need for quality education and greater access to educational follow-up is still in the forefront of concern for this author, the completion of NSC 842 Advanced Nursing Practice Issues class expanded the knowledge base of these issues. The concerns focus more on the need to regulate educational requirements, and scope of practice issues across the United States. There is a vast difference in the regulations of these issues from state to state. Quality research, and collaborative agreements need to be completed by governing bodies to agree upon a more structured job role and educational/licensure agreement with all
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The discussions on specialty roles including the need for additional certifications to expand the role of the FNP are important. Also, the need to carefully consider cultural issues, as well properly assessing the rural versus urban area of practice are vital to ensure the highest quality of care is extended to the patient population of each FNP's
I plan to pursue a career in nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner. This career take many steps to complete. But it is different routes you can take and different programs you can enroll in for this profession. Family Nurse Practitioners can prescribe medication and diagnose patients and give treatment. They can work either in hospitals and or clinics as a primary healthcare provider. They can also order specific x-rays and test that need to be done for a patient. The nurse practitioners interact with less patients in a clinic than in a hospital. Np’s have privileges to prescribe medications in every state.
Nurse practitioners (NPs), one type of advanced practice nurses, are licensed by the states where they practice and certified by private boards. Nurse practitioners hold advanced degrees in clinical practice and function in a wide variety of settings and across the life span. They provide a broad array of healthcare services ranging from managing treatment plans, to prescribing medications, to implementing health promotion services. As of 2014, 205,000 NPs were licensed in the United States with 86% of those prepared to deliver care to patients in primary care settings (NP Facts, 2015). The progression of the Nurse Practitioner movement that occurred in the 1960 and 1970s emerged as a creative and
Nursing, as a crucial part of the health care system, keeps evolving while dealing with an increasingly complex clinical situation that involves quality of patient care. Therefore, to successfully handle these scenarios, nursing needs to become more advanced, clinically and academically. A DNP degree is needed in this situation because according to Dunbar- Jacob, Navito & Khalil (2013), a DNP degree is considered to have more impact on nursing than a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree due to the advanced clinical education a DNP provides (p. 425). Hence, the DNP degree has an enormous impact in nursing practice especially in terms of improving clinical care, promoting leadership roles, and improving educational status.
In 2011, Barbara Safriet published an article “Federal options for maximizing the value of Advanced Practice Nurses in providing quality, cost-effective health care” from a legal perspective. The article focused on the benefits of utilizing Advance Practice Nurses to the full extent of their abilities as well as the current barriers that APNs encounter in their practice. The aim of this paper is to discuss two regulatory provisions to full deployment of APNs in current health care system, as well as three principle causes of current barriers to removal of the restrictive provisions for the APN. Furthermore, I will discuss the critical knowledge presented in the article and how it relates the APN practice. This article was incorporated into a two-year initiative was launched Institute of Medicine (IOM) and by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2008 which addressed the urgency to assess and transform the nursing profession.
The model discusses the impact of new regulations on education for APRN, Licensure Accreditation, Certification & Education Document, certification and practice. The model is implemented to grasp the general understanding and definition of advance practice registered nurse APRN role, inconsistencies with state by state recognition of APRN roles, and determining eligibility for APRN licensure (Consensus Model for APRN Regulation, 2015). The consensus model definition of APRN is a nurse who is educationally rounded to assume the responsibility of assessing, diagnosis, treating, teaching health promotion and disease maintenance, acquired advanced clinical knowledge and skills to provide direct patient care, has passed a national certification examination, and licensed to practice in one of the four roles (Consensus Model for APRN Regulation, 2015).
The key to a successful healthcare reform is interdisciplinary collaboration between Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) and physicians. The purpose of this paper is to review the established role of the FNP, appreciate the anticipated paradigm shift in healthcare between FNPs and primary care physicians, and recognize the potential associated benefits and complications that may ensue. Description of the Topic Definition The American Nurses Association (2008) has defined the FNP, under the broader title of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), as one “who is educationally prepared to assume responsibility and accountability for health promotion and/or maintenance as well as the assessment, diagnosis, and management of patient problems, which includes the use and prescription of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions” (p. 7).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Both Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Practitioner-students work closely with patients to monitor their health and provide care for acute and chronic illnesses. However, in the academic-clinical setting, the NP-student may only perform this function at the discretion of the supervising NP. Although work environments and responsibilities bestowed upon these distinctive nurses can be quite different, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses and students is bound to the same laws and regulations governed by all states and territories that have enacted a nurse practice act (NPA). The NPA itself is insufficient to provide the necessary guidance for the nursing profession, therefore each NPA establishes a state board of nursing (BON) that has the authority to develop administrative rules or regulations to clarify or make the governing practice law(s) more specific (NCSBN
In 1990 a group of educators, called the National Task Force for Family Nurse Practitioner Curriculum and Evaluation, created the initial curriculum guidelines for nurse practitioners (Graduate nurse practitioners education competencies, n.d.).Today, the NONPF represents most NP educational institutions worldwide and they continue to develop/improve the NP competencies and guidelines in order to prepare healthcare professionals across the world (Graduate nurse practitioners education competencies,
According to America Cancer Society is the second most common cancer in both men and women. In 2015, 221,200 new cases were diagnosed and 158,040 deaths occurred due to lung cancer. Each year more patients’ dies of lung cancer than any other types of cancer in the United States including breast, colon and prostate cancer. Survival rate for patients depends on the initial stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis (ACS, 2015). Approximately 90% of all cancer are diagnosed at an ambulatory services by primary care providers. Over the last couple of years, the role of a Nurse Practitioners (NP) has been expanding. NPs are seen not only in a primary care setting, but they can play a major role in specialty and subspecialty roles. Due to the growth in the roles of an NP, NPs are now in a position to provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and treatment plan and management (Rugg, 2013). It is imperative that providers strive to make an early diagnosis in order for patients to have optimal outcome.
My vision for the Family Nurse Practitioner in a primary healthcare setting is to bring health care to small communities, comprised of predominately poor working class people, who are classified as underprivileged. Performing exams on the sick, providing immunizations to the young, educating all, and assisting the elderly with chronic illness and disease management, while providing preventative care and education on wellness. The Family Nurse Practitioner sees patients from young to old in need of a wide variety of care. As a Family Nurse Practitioner I will provide education and holistically meet the health care and wellness needs of my community, and others like it, by providing critical access to health care for the most vulnerable
.... Professional nursing: Concepts and challenges (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Science Health Science div.
Although I had years of nurse experiences, these experiences were not considered as advanced practice. The experiences were complementary to my NP preparation in graduate school, but often time, I did not feel they were applicable because I did not have to formulate a medical diagnosis and manage health problem. Despite the differences, NPs and PAs are an integral part of the health care, and we all work together to improve the access and quality of health care throughout the
With my academic, professional and volunteer experience, I have reached a point in my career where I am fully equipped to enter the advanced curriculum of the Doctor of Nursing practice, Family Nurse Practitioner program. Working in the nursing profession for the past three years has shown me that there is an increasing need for research to improve health care delivery and access to vulnerable populations. It is rewarding to be a nurse; however there are limitations in my current scope of practice that prevents me to go beyond my job requirements. Through advanced education, my aim is to provide quality patient-family
Kaakinen, J. R., Gedaly-Duff, V., Coehlo, D. P., & Harmon Hanson, S. M. (2010). Family Health Care Nursing: Theory, Practice and Research. (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis .
To briefly summarize, the report identifies nurses as an important factor in enabling access to high quality, affordable health care. This was supported by the development of four fundamental recommendations. The first suggests that nurses be allowed to practice within the scope of their degree. This becomes evident in the differences in state laws that pertain to nurse’s who have acquired advanced degrees, such as the nurse practitioner.... ...