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The Geriatric Advanced Practice Registered Nurse

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Daunting for the psychiatric geriatric Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) are a number of tasks, not dissimilar to the trials of Hercules. Registered nurses (RNs) transitioning to the APRN role, according to Kimberly Buzzelli, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), have to develop the prior knowledge and willpower to separate from their RN peers and work collaboratively with Medical Doctors and system administrators who may be harried, busy, or self-absorbed in a number of other problems and pathologies. The need for the ability to diagnose conditions of health and illness and to prescribe treatments carries the Nurse Practitioner (NP) beyond their prior training and experiences, whatever the assumption …show more content…

The unit is a short-stay psychiatric inpatient unit located at Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia. Kimberly describes her role and an important part of her job description as admitting patients, completing all of the units’ discharges including writing all prescriptions that are needed, consulting on all needs for the emergency department and as well as Lynchburg General Hospital, a local neighboring hospital, and also spending the majority of her time communicating with patients’ families, nursing homes, and other essential members of the patients’ treatment team. Each morning a meeting is held with the interdisciplinary team as well as Kimberly herself and the Medical Director. At this meeting each patients’ care is discussed in detail with every member of the treatment team present. Everyone brings something to the table, as Kimberly describes and Dr. Betz, both her collaborating physician and Medical Director, always has the best interest of all patients at heart, she adds in support of her medical co-worker. With discussion centered around every patient on the unit at the daily treatment team meeting, Dr. Betz is aware of Kimberly’s patients and his ideas such as what medications might work, potential side effects of medications, and the behaviors the patients are experiencing are all conferred upon.

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