Advance Practice Registered Nurse (APRN)

There are four types of Advanced Practice Nurse roles, the nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, and certified nurse-midwife. The Family Nurse Practitioner is the advanced practice role that will be discussed. According to Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, and O 'Grady (2014) the primary care NP provides care for patients in diverse settings, including community-based settings such as private and public practices, acute, and long-term care settings across the life span (pg. 396). Family Nurse Practitioners have faced many challenges in the medical profession to be recognized as health care providers. Most of these challenges where from fellow nurses. According to Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, and O’Grady (2014) conflict and discord about the Nurse Practitioner role continued to characterize relationships between NPs and other nurses (pg. 18). Despite the resistance to NPs in nursing, physicians increasingly accepted NPs in individual health care practices (Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, and O’Grady, 2014, pg. 18). Physicians readily accepted the role of the Nurse Practitioner, working together to improve patient outcomes and safety.

Credentialing from advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) perspective is defined as “furnishing the documentation necessary to be authorized by a regulatory body or institution to engage in certain activities and use a certain title” (Hanson, 2014). Credentialing is also define from a local institutional process that consider specific documentations for APRN before they assume the practice role as APRN within their facility. In health care system, credentialing ensures individuals meet required standards of practice and is prepared to perform those duties implied by the credentials. National certification and education are considered as part of credentialing for APRN to acquire basic level of competence to practice. (Hanson, 2014)

The APRN Consensus Model was released in July of 2008 to define advanced practice registered nurse, identify the titles to be used by APRNs, and define specialty area of practice. The Consensus Model also describes population foci, suggests a process for recognition of new APRN roles, and recommends requirements for implementation (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2010). The APRN regulatory model helps uniform scope of practice of APRN across the United States, which benefit individual APRN, enhance patient outcomes, and improve the quality of care. Consensus Model consists of Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education. The Education criteria in LACE Consensus Model relate to all APRN programs regardless of master’s or doctoral

This paper explores the perception of clinical practitioners to the change in policy related to the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) full practice authority. The author conducts a one-on-one, open-ended interview of 5 nurse practitioners and 5 physicians licensed to practice in Maryland on their perceptions of the recent passage of the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Full Practice Authority. A literature review was conducted in a policy report by the professional nursing organization, and discussion within the peer-reviewed article supported an overview, regulatory differences among 50 states, including the District of Columbia. Their policy implication for enhancing APRNs role nationally. The author discusses a critical component

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are registered nurses who have completed masters or post-masters degrees. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing recognizes four APN specialties

The Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health acknowledges the changing healthcare sector in the US and describes future vision of healthcare and the role of nurses to fulfill that vision. The United States always strives to provide affordable and quality healthcare to the entire population of the country. In order to achieve this goal an overall restructuring of the healthcare system was necessitated. Nurses are considered to be the central part of the healthcare system to provide high quality and safe patient care. Nursing in the US is the single largest segment of the healthcare workforce with almost 3 million nurses working in different areas across the county. The changing

by a nurse equivalent is equivalent to care provided by a physician.. In addition, the

There have been concerns regarding the identification and credentialing of advanced practiced registered nurses (APRNs). A APRN is a registered nurse who has successfully completed an accredited graduate-level education program, in which the individual is well prepared and successfully passed the nationwide certification examination (APRN Consensus Model, 2008). However, there are still debating issues of who would fall under the APRN category. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) has identified four APRNs who are deem fit to be called ARPNs; however, only two will be named. They would be certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and certified nurse practitioners (CNPs). Whereas, the nurse informatics and the nurse administrations are not considered to be APRNs; although, they are still license registered nurses but they do not provide direct patient care and are not required to take the national certification examination (ARPN Consensus Model, 2008).

Merriam-Webster (2015) defines a nurse practitioner (NP) as ?a nurse who is qualified through advanced training to assume some of the duties and responsibilities formerly assumed only by a physician.? The NP is a direct care provider that provides a plethora of services ranging from primary prevention to disease management. For example, the NP has authority to monitor and alter drug therapies and order diagnostic tests.

An advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) is an umbrella term consisting of but not limited to roles such as Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP); Adult Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP); Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM); and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is an undeniable fact that APRNs care for multitudes of patients across the entire human lifespan and across many certain from the nursing homes and home care to hospitals, pain clinics, and substance abuse centers.

Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) covers four types: Certified Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse Midwives, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, and Clinical Nurse Specialists.

As the needs of the populace prompt greater numbers of advanced nurse practitioners, the role and scope of practice for these nurses have broadened and converged to form an inclusive definition that works to advance the whole of nursing practice. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and the Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (APRN) consensus model, provide two definitions of the APN that showcase similarities and differences. Furthermore, the definition of the APN as presented in Advanced Practice Nursing: An Integrative Approach, by Hamric, Hansen, Tracy, & OGrady (2014), provides yet another consideration of what it means to be an APN. Each entity recognizes four specialties as part of advanced practice nursing: the nurse anesthetist, the nurse midwife, the nurse practitioner, and the clinical nurse specialist.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) continue to play a vital role in providing patient centered healthcare in different environments and settings. There are several types of healthcare personnel categorized as APRNs including mid-wives, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, and family nurse practitioners among others (Newhouse, 2011). One major issue of concern is to identify whether a nursing role is clinical or no clinical. Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) comprise of registered nurses working autonomously or collaborating with other healthcare professionals to deliver healthcare in family-centered settings. They offer a broad range of healthcare services revolving around the concept of the family unit.

Changes in the Health Care System and the Practice of Nursing have become complex. Technological changes, complicated client needs, short hospital length of stay, and departure from acute care to community based care, all these changes have underscore the need for professional nurses to think critically in order to provide safe and effective client care. A better educated nursing workforce can provide good health education to patients and their families. The affordable care of 2010 has required the need for nurses to expand their role of practice to meet complicated patient demands. This has prompted the Institute Of Medicine to review the “Future of Nursing, Leading change and Advancing Health”. {Creasia & Fribery,2011}

As the field of public health nursing has been evolving since the 19th century, so have