Residency Programs For Acute Care Nurse Practitioners

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.

I currently work as a wound ostomy specialist for the hospi-tal. I desire to continue to grow as a nurse and professional. I am now ready to advance my career again and become an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. In each position I’ve held, I have taken away a skill-set that has helped to mold me into the professional I am today. I have identified that there is a great need, in the Acute Care setting, for Acute Care Nurse Practitioners that can provide comprehensive and holistic care to the critically ill. According to Nursing and Health Sciences, hospital-based nurse practitioners influence team function, as well as facilitate advanced patient care, provide leadership and education as well as implement unit specific re-search. With my knowledge of the intensive care setting as well as my knowledge of pressure ul-cers, pressure ulcer prevention, wound management and advanced wound healing I feel that I would be a great asset to the profession as well as the hospital-based team. Once graduated, I plan to work in the Acute Care Setting, most likely in a specialty such as General

Current trends in healthcare are leading to more complex, advanced patient care and needs. Hospitals and patient services are now in need of highly skilled, trained, and educated professionals to deliver this care. The impact of these trends extend into the profession of nursing, where employers are taking a closer look at the outcomes of patient care delivered by ADN graduates vs. BSN prepared nurses. Although

Healthcare systems and the way safe, quality health care is delivered are continually changing to better serve patients and communities. Professional nursing practice is a large component in the healthcare system today. Back in the 1960s, professional nursing leaders tried to adopt the bachelor degree programs as the only educational track to become a registered nurse (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). Due to nursing shortages and demands this motive did not hold fast. Individuals entering the nursing profession today must first decide which educational pathway to take to become a Registered Nurse (RN).

In addition, a DNP degree will help me better serve my community by advocating for quality and safety healthcare system. Once attained, I would seek employment at either a school or university with the mission of educating nursing students to practice the highest quality of patient care. One of the major issues facing the nursing profession today is the lack of advance nursing practices. The medical field is in crisis. Doctors are stretched to the limits, and patients are demanding more advanced care. To alleviate some of the concerns facing medicine in the 21st century, advance nursing practices is a vital area in the contribution of understanding and working within the bounds of a team structure, and the promotion of communication between the interdisciplinary health team. The mission of the advance nursing practice is to help individual patients, and their families, determine and achieve optimum physical, mental and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work Nurses are among the largest professional care group within the healthcare service industry. We are responsible for providing quality care and assisting patients towards independent and healthy living. Considering the changing working environment, health care practitioners like nurses are

With an ever-increasing body of knowledge in the field of nursing, more education is being required to enter the field of nursing. Many healthcare institutions are raising the educational requirements in order to become employed or maintain employment in their facilities. Healthcare organizations are transitioning to hiring registered nurses (RN) who have a higher level of education, such as, a graduate from a Baccalaureate Degree Nursing (BSN) program. The goal of these institutions is to have nurses with a broader array of skills that can meet the growing demands of our patient population. BSN prepared nurses are recognized for their well-rounded skills in critical thinking, management, case management and health promotion versus Associate Degree nurses (ADN)/Diploma nurses that focus on direct patient care.

As popular as the ADN is today, there is a huge momentum to encourage nurses to receive their BSN instead of an ADN. Nurses that are already entering the workforce at the BSN level are not only more skilled at following and understanding evidenced based practice, but they are also more prepared to go on to school to complete their masters or doctorate degrees. In the changing face of healthcare, more nurses with advanced degrees will be needed to provide primary care as in the role of nurse practitioners. APRNs are going to be in higher demand in community care, public health nursing, evidence based practice, research, and leadership. Shortages of nurses in these positions create a “barrier to advancing the profession and improving the delivery of care to patients” (IOM, 2010, p. 170). Shortages of APRNs and the increasing need for nurse practitioners to provide primary care is why the IOM is recommending to increase the amount of BSN educated nurses entering the workforce to 80% and to double the number of doctorate nurses by 2020 (IOM, 2010, p. 173) The goal to increase the nursing workforce to 80% BSN educated nurses and double the amount of nurses with doctorate degrees is a formidable goal, but increasingly necessary. Patients are becoming more complex inside and outside of the hospital setting with chronic multiple comorbidities. BSN educated nurses are not only better prepared to care for these

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).

Advanced practice nurses have core competencies that are similar or are specific to each specialization defined as an advanced practice. The profession of nursing presents favorable circumstances for nurses to specialize in roles with distinct responsibilities and opportunities to contribute to the function of a health care industry with growing demands and complexity. The profession of nursing continues to debate to whom the title advanced practice nurse applies to. Examination of the core concept frame works described by nurse leaders and professional organizations tend to either support or refute the argument related to the use of the term, advanced practice nurse for nursing administrators and educators. For the purpose of this paper the author will explore the core competency similarities and differences of a nurse practitioner and a nurse educator. Nurse educators and nurse practitioners are registered nurses that possess advanced education, skills, and experience. Each specialty nurse has defined scopes of practice with distinct sets of responsibilities, requirements, and skills. Each role represents distinct educational requirements and activities that contribute to the complex and diverse health care industry.

The report shows that the part of nursing must be expanded so that nurses are able to practice to the fullest degree of their education and training. Currently, advanced practice nurses (APRNs) work according to the scope of practice guidelines set forth by their individual state, meaning these highly educated nurses may not be working to the extent of their training but to the individual state laws. The report offers recommendations to streamline these idiosyncrasies and get rid of the red tape so that nurses can work in their appropriate manner and deliver safe quality care to some 32 million Americans who will before long gain access to health care services (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2012). The report correspondingly finds that nurses need to attain advanced levels of education and training through an enhanced education structure which encourages a cohesive academic progression as to safeguard the delivery of quality health care services. Patients are becoming progressively more complex and nurses need to attain the proper skills to care for these persons. Nursing education must embrace the continuous move towards a streamline approach to higher degree programs (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010, p. 2). Nurse residency programs

The historic article by Safriet (1992) fully lists and analyzes the major challenges facing the advanced practice nurse (APN). At the time the article was written compared to now, a few aspects are changing. In areas where change has occurred, it has been an exceedingly slow process. Change for APNs is often dependent on legislation and regulatory authorities which receives half-hearted support, at best, from the medical establishment (Safriet, 1992). Since the first day nurses were given any authority to practice outside of regular practice, physicians only objected when it began to encroach upon their perceived hierarchal status or potential for compensation (Hamric, Hanson, Tracy, & O’Grady, 2014). The concern that this

Before becoming middle managers, acute care nurse practitioners first need to establish a solid and reliable education background, which allows them to be experts in the field before managing a group of individuals to perform tasks to efficiently manage and run a demanding healthcare facility. The education needed to pursue certification as an acute care nurse practitioner is very competitive and requires individuals to go into graduate level in nursing. Since acute care practitioners are required to provide care to patients who are critically and chronically ill under life-threatening circumstances they must be competent, well trained and knowledgeable in the field and they also need to be nationally certified in order to continue practice. They must graduate from a master’s or post-master’s certified program and obtain their national certification which also includes completing 500 hours of clinical practice from an accredited master’s program in which they will go through formal training. The professional affiliations associated with this profession (Kleinpell, Perez, & McLaughlin, 2005). Through experience, educational background, and qualifications an acute care nurse practitioner can be promoted to a supervisor and move their way up to upper management if they meet the requirements necessary to best perform what is expected from them.

Both the DNP and PhD nurse educators are critical in helping build a nursing workforce that iscapable of increasing complex demands of the nations health care system. DNP nurses in advance proactice nursing roles are able to implement ways to improve nursing practice, patient population and a focus on patient outcomes. O'Lynn (2015) states that a nurse educator track for DNP students would greatly increase the nursing faculty and allow more students into nursing

In 1963, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Consultant Group on Nursing identified a nationwide nursing shortage. This led to the Comprehensive Nurse Training Act of 1964 that created nurse education and training programs and also supplied grant funds for student loans, nursing school, and education grants (Smith, 2009). A year later the Comprehensive Nurse Training Act led to the American Nurses Association Committee on Education to look at nursing education, practice, scope, and responsibilities. While looking into nursing education, concerns were raised about hospital-based diploma programs and the increasing complexity of healthcare. As a result, the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) released their 1965 position paper on entry into nursing practice. In their 1965 position paper the ANA recommended three things they

It is difficult to meet the challenge of advancing in your profession when a structured or well-defined professional development for the nursing staff is non-existent. There is positive news, however, outside of hospital facilities. According to a survey conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2015, from the year 2010 to 2014, it shows that there has been a steady increase of baccalaureate degree educated graduates (The National Academies Press, 2016). Furthermore, students who enrolled and completed baccalaureate–level education increased by 69 percent in the same study time period (The National Academies Press, 2016). Certainly, students and prospective nurses have taken