Np Reflection Paper

When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and

Since the inception of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) role in the 1960s, NPs have thrived in the delivery of primary healthcare and nurse case management. Despite patient satisfaction with NPs ' style of care, nurses have been critical of NPs, while physicians have been threatened by NP encroachment on MD practice. Balancing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment with caring defines NPs ' success as primary care providers. Understand the role and Scope of Practice of NPs is sometimes difficult for some to understand. The purpose of this paper is to define the role and history of NP, compare and contrast licensure versus certifications, understand NP Scope Of Practice and Standards of Care, discuss how the State Practice Acts regulate FNP practice, discuss credentialing and privileging, and differentiate between legislative and regulatory processes.

In recent years, APRNs have been very vocal through many nursing coalitions and associations. The voices of all ARNPs seeking full practice authority has been heard with the proposed bills. The Florida Panhandle Nurse Practitioner Coalition (FRNPC), has given information to all ARNPs to keep ahead in legislative issues. A white paper published by the American College of Physicians have been shared to all Floridian ARNPs through the

The afore= mentioned issues being addressed through legal channels by the AANP are barriers to effective and efficient practice, the type of barriers that were to be eliminated by the expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Dunphy, Winland-Brown, Porter, & Thomas, 2015). Only twenty-two states have allowed full practice authority, which is less than half of the nation. It is imperative that every advance practice nurse has a voice that is heard in their state and the nation, this is the message of the AANP (Hain & Fleck,

L.P., a currently practicing NP, was interviewed in an attempt to explore her thoughts on issue and possible solutions affecting NPs. L.P. started her education with a bachelor’s degree in education. She later returned to school to receive her registered nurse (RN) license and gained experience working in several hospital departments for over 20 years. During this time she worked on completing a master’s in healthcare administration and wellness promotion. She later returned to Drexel to complete her bachelor’s and master’s in nursing to work as a Family Practice NP. She has been practicing as an NP for five years, with her start in a physician practice and is currently working in the

As resistant as some states’ legislative and regulatory bodies are to grant APNs autonomy of practice, the damage being done by over-regulation is clear (Safriet, 1992). Physicians are forced into a position to either supervise the APN’s practice or be constantly consulted for approval of their practice decisions. Safriet (1992) described that in and of itself, this constant supervision may appear to patients that the APN is not competent to provide adequate or care equivalent to that of a physician. If the role of the APN is to bridge gaps in health care by relieving the medical establishment of some of the patient load by performing the same function as a physician in a primary care setting, it seems wholly unnecessary to restrain their scope of practice in those areas. This type of restrictions affect cost and patient care accessibility (Safriet, 1992). This was a problem stated in the article, however 25 years later, populations of patients remain unseen or cared for and APNs continue to be underutilized (Safriet, 1992). Rigolosi and Salmond (2014) cite the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) when they state that not utilizing nurse practitioners due to practice restrictions costs $9 billion annually in the US (p. 649).

Therefore, there is great need to have all stakeholders at both national and state levels to address these emerging challenges. This will help to achieve the triple objective of healthcare, which is to provide better care, ensuring better health, and reducing the costs of accessing healthcare (Hain, & Fleck, 2014). Among the barriers the authors point out include practice and licensure laws in various states, payer policies, and other physician related issues among others. Licensure and practice laws for the profession vary across the states. Nonetheless, the challenge lays in the way these laws and practices relate with the full practice authority governing practice and licensure (Hain, & Fleck, 2014). A big proportion of the country has only adopted certain parts of the legal requirements, creating a significant barrier for NP practice. The other challenge is the perception among some groups of physicians that NPs cannot provide quality and safe patient care at the same level as the physicians (Hain, & Fleck, 2014). This perception emanates from the notion that NPs do not receive a rigorous and longer training and education unlike other physicians. This hinders effective performance of nurse practitioners and greatly affects the work of professionals such as family nurse

I enjoyed reading your post on Advanced Practice Nursing Policies. I do agree with you on that “The lack of practice standards across the United States regarding advanced practice nurses have been problematic for decades now”. Today at work I heard doctors talking about how APRN, taking over the primary care in Maryland and is very concerning to the doctors. Doctors were saying that the differences of NP and doctors were the training, clinical experiences, and problem-solving skills. Nurse practitioners luck in depth of understanding diagnosis or make correct judgement of complex medicine. Moreover, after reading some articles I found that “72 percent of Americans adults prefer physicians to nonphysician when it comes to health

In practice, there is ground to make in terms of independent practice, equity in reimbursement rates, and ability to broaden the scope of practice of APRNs in order to better serve the healthcare needs of patients, their families, and our communities. As each state updates their Nurse Practice Acts (NPA), APNs will be able to deliver safe, quality, and affordable patient care in accordance with their education and training. I will continue to develop competencies in these areas as move through the program and start my practicum rotations.

Ever since I began nursing school in 2012 at the University of Texas At El Paso Texas, I dreamt of furthering my education to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. During my clinical rotations I received many exposures that showed me insight into the invaluable job Nurse Practitioners offered to their patients. Through my own personal experience having received care by nurse Practitioners has left me no doubt about my desire to become a Family Nurse Practitioner.

I have always enjoyed telling stories, it was just quite difficult for me to express my ideas well. I took this class in the hopes I could form a well written, organized paper. Expository writing has taught me my different strengths and weaknesses and how to use them accordingly. My writing skills have improved and changed drastically since the beginning of the semester. I learned to eliminate wordiness, to add detailed analysis, and improve grammar skills. This has made a significant difference in my writing abilities, preparing me for my future in college.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a quiet child. I hated the way I speak and I still do. What I say never matches up to what I think and it is never organized. I hate it when I talk and my heart rapidly races or my stomach begins to hurt out of nowhere. I regret growing up to where I am now with that trait because I feel unhappy with myself and my mind is plagued with negative thoughts as a result. I worry about the future to the point where I can’t focus on the present. These thoughts built up and came crashing down during the time I had to present with my group in front of my teacher during 8th grade for the first round of National History Day. I was nervous, frustrated, and worried. It was the third time we had to present in front of her and I had another project due to her the next day which I needed to work on badly. However, the thoughts in which I tried hard to store away broke loose. When it was my turn to explain my part, I made a mistake and laughed it off. I continued again and messed up. I laughed. I laughed until I started to cry in front of the class. My teacher and teammates comforted me even though I didn’t want their sympathy. However, the fact that they cared for me gave me strength. I wanted to be more confident in myself and to achieve that, I had to be more positive which made me become a nicer person.

Ever since move in day here at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, it feels as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. In terms of freedom that is. At home, I would always have to worry about what time to be home and make sure my friends could actually take me back home. I was not allowed to drive the car anywhere expect work or school and occasionally I could take it to get some food but rarely. My friends, in my opinion at least, were always annoyed they had to come pick me up or that we had to leave somewhere early because my mother called and suddenly decided I had to be home right then and there.

When I was nine years old I learned a lesson that everyone should learn at some point. It was that I do not always know best. One sunny day as I was sitting in the backyard of my grandparent’s house, I watched as the neighbor’s daughter mowed their lawn. She was about my age at the time but I thought that that made her look much older. I decided that I wanted to try too and asked my grandfather if I could drive his lawn mower. He said that he thought I was too young and I would not be able to do it but I continued to beg and he hesitantly let me. I rushed inside, took the keys from the key holder on the wall, and sprinted back outside to the shed. As I sat on the lawn mower, I remember feeling grown up and proud. After I put the key in the ignition I could feel and hear the soft rumble underneath me. I pushed down the break, grabbed the gear shift, moved it to drive, and began driving. I started off slow at first just to make sure I had the feel of things. After a couple of minutes I felt comfortable enough to pick up speed and transition between the front and back yard. I did this a few times and I was feeling extremely sure of myself now. It was then that I decided to make the tragic turn.

Children often repress memories from their childhood due to lack of will to remember or lack of wanting to remember. Tragedy or uncomfortable childhoods help cause children to forget what has happened to them. Growing up, I didn’t have the best childhood and often struggle with recalling any details from it. Now being grown up, the only thing I am certain that I remember is going to school, my teacher’s names, and things that I did at school. School was a place where I went to escape my home life. If someone were to ask me how to define my school experience it would be: Safe-haven. When I was at school, I was so absorbed in learning that all I could focus on was my education. After school, I would come home and play “school” with my brothers with reverse roles. I would be their teacher and they would be my students. I would explain and teach them in depth the things I had learned that day. The overall main reason that school was so enjoyable for me was because of the teachers. The teachers that I had in elementary school helped to instill my love for learning. They also helped me realize that I wanted to help kids such as they helped me. In addition, they gave me my dream. My dream has then be to become a teacher and help my students escape from whatever happens when they are not at school. I hope to have all my students in love with the learning process so therefore school can be their place of forget. They can come into my classroom and forget everything that is wrong with the rest of their life. As time passed and I am now a college student, my love for learning has continued to grow and has had me want to become the best teacher I can be. My ultimate goal and dream in life is to become an Elementary Education teacher that makes a difference to her students, whether that is making them feel safe, or helping them learn to love school.