Nurse Practitioner Role

Both Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Physician Assistants (PA) are two very important professionals in the field of medicine. They both work under the supervision of a licensed physician, and their functions are also quite similar with very minor differences between the two. Due to such similarities it has become very difficult for the general population to differentiate between these two professionals (Nurse Practitioner School, 2015). The nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have gone on to earn a master's or doctorate degree in a specialty area of nursing, such as family practice, adult practice, pediatrics or women's health. Their duties include diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions, prescribing medication,

The Physician Assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP) career fields were the medical fields’ response to the physician shortage that began in the 1960s, but the shortage still exists today. As the population continues to grow, the gap continues to grow as well. Medical schools were having a hard time producing as many doctors that were needed to fill in the gaps in a timely manner, leaving the medical field looking for ways they could have health care providers diagnose and treat patients, but educated in half the time of a doctor. The PA program was then born out of the military. Medical doctors watched as military doctors and medics came back, but they had no formal training except for on-the-job training. The NP program was derived from previous midwifery program. Currently, as the physician shortage is still impending more and more PAs and NPs are being hired to fill in the gaps. This is causing many questions to arise: Are they qualified?, What kind of education do they have?, and Should I feel safe?. Patients want to know that they are getting excellent care, and that their medical providers are qualified to diagnose and treat patients accurately.

Nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses who have received special courses and training. They usually work closely with doctors and can perform many high-level primary care tasks. They often specialize in specific types of practice such as pediatrics, psychiatry, or obstetrics. Some establish private practices; however, most work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or neighborhood health centers. Their duties often include taking detailed medical histories and performing complete physical exams, providing diagnoses and recommending treatment plans, treating common medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries, prescribing limited medications, and counseling patients and families. They also care

In order to practice as a Nurse Practitioner (NP) in Indiana you must hold a state registered nursing license complete a master 's program with certain course requirements. According to NursingLicensure.com (n.d.) there are two educational options leading to Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) recognition in Indiana: obtain a master 's degree or higher in nursing, or obtain a bachelor 's degree in nursing plus national certification. There is not a specific application to become a NP unless you are also pursuing prescriptive authority. Most laws in Indiana focus on regulating practice of nurse practitioners center around prescribing.

While uncertainty about the role of an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AG-ACNP) persists, what research has found about the role is that AG-ACNP’s provide advanced nursing care to those who are acutely, critically or chronically ill in both traditional and nontraditional healthcare settings (Kleinpell et al., 2012). Standard of scope differs between all types of scopes and nurse practitioners alike. The scope of practice (SOP) for an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) is not based on practice setting, but rather what type of care the patient will need, for example, someone who needs ventilator management in either the home or hospital environment (Kleinpell et al., 2012).

All accredited educational programs include didactic learning that includes advanced assessment, pharmacology and pathophysiology and clinical experience gained through rotations and preceptorship. APN’s complete master’s degrees or post master’s programs in preparation for certification. Certification is granted by The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Certifications are earned in adult and family, acute care, pediatrics, psychiatric, gerontology and women’s healthy specialties. APN’s are licensed by individual state boards of nursing and they are certified in advanced specialty areas. APN’s have prescriptive authority in all 50 states and can practice without direct physician supervision in several states. They work in a variety of settings including hospitals, clinics, schools, colleges and urgent care facilities. APN’s must recertify every five years with 1000 hours of clinical practice and 75 continuing education hours in the area of

In 2008, the coalition of members from the Alliance for Advanced Practice Credentialing and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) created the Consensus Model for Advanced Practicing Registered Nurses (APRN’s). This model creates a framework for APRN’s in licensing, accreditation, certification, and education in the United States (Alleman & Houle, 2013). The establishment of this Consensus Model has developed a bases for the ARNP’s comprehensive knowledge base, ability for clinical reasoning, cultural, and ethical competencies, establishing a model of practice for ARNPs in which to follow. These concepts will be further discussed in this paper.

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.

The healthcare system in America, is a system that the nation is working hard to improve and perfect. This means the rules and regulations in healthcare continue to change, and often times change rapidly. In the years to come, nurse practitioners (NPs) are predicted to hold a prominent role as healthcare providers. Currently, there are many rules and regulations that prevent NPs from practicing to the full extent of their educations. While the NP certification is standardized nationwide, regulations vary from state to state and many NP are still fighting to be recognized as highly qualified care providers. These current issues make uniting the voices of NPs everywhere important for the progression of the NP career.

Nurse practitioners are advanced registered nurses who have been obligated with providing professional care to patients within their jurisdiction. They are expected to perform comprehensive healthcare services from caring for acute illnesses, injuries, and immunization to the treatment of chronic conditions (Cusack, et al., 2015).

The present healthcare system in the United States (U.S) faces various challenges due to changing demographic, economic and political pressures. The need of primary care provides are increasing as a result of increasing access to healthcare, increasing expenditures, and growing populations of the elderly and chronically ill patients. Even with the plenty of evidences that Nurse Practitioners (NP)are well educated, competent, health care professionals who are able to improve access to high-quality health care and lower health care costs, restrictive practice regulations still exist. The quest for NPs independence practice has surpassed and it became a necessary practice transformation to improve the health of the nation (The National Organization

When somebody needs to go to the doctor now a days, they might not necessarily see one, it most likely would be a nurse practitioner. They do the same job as a physician more or less but are a little different in other words, they are less expensive & they are more hands on, so to speak, being more one on one with the patient & their needs or wants in dealing with illnesses, broken bones, diseases, common cold, or loss of loved ones. They go further than a normal physician would. Today, there are over 205,000 nurse practitioners in the united states today (American Association of Nurse Practitioners).

Nursing as a profession is the delivering of primary health care to individuals, families, and communities with compassion and respect for the patients. As one of the most important elements of the health care professions, it is critical to understand the various facets of the role of nursing professionals. While nursing students and currently-working nursing professionals might have differing opinions on the roles nursing professionals play within the health care profession and the society as a whole, there are a few elements that are easily identified by all professionals as integral to this position like good record keeping that help to identify risk and early detection of complications. The roles of nursing professionals are as

This paper explores the roles that nurses play in bereavement care and how people react differently to the loss of a loved one during the bereavement process such as uncomplicated grief reactions versus complicated grief. The nurse’s role in disenfranchised grief is also explored in detail as to how the nurse can recognize grief from disenfranchised grief. The different types of disenfranchised grief are explained in detail and how a person may experience the different types. The four tasks of mourning are also identified and explained as to how a person must move through these stages so that they may be able to establish a new social life after the loss of a loved one. It is explained in this paper how a nurse can better care for their

Ms. Gillooly practices from a holistic point of view, considering the complex needs of the dialysis dependent patient. She employs critical thinking skills and keen assessments to develop the best plan of care for her patients. Also, she understands the range of emotional and spiritual needs of the chronically ill population. Melissa’s goal for taking care of her patients’ is that she wants to make the difficulty of coming in for dialysis three times weekly, a little easier. She is able to strike a balance of comforting support and sharp nursing skills. She functions in the charge nurse role, whereby she independently seeks out and assumes additional responsibilities and takes a leadership role in identifying, developing, and implementing plans to resolve identified problems. In addition to the charge role she is a preceptor for nursing students and a mentor for her colleagues as she demonstrates leadership in these roles. Her assessment and careful evaluations of her patients’ estimated dry weights has led to a decrease in cardiac risk factors associated with episodes of fluid overload. Of her 6 primary patients, none have been admitted into the hospital for any cardiac and or fluid overload episodes, which is often associated with ESRD patients.