Advanced Practice Nurse Professional Development Plan - Essay Example

APN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Affiliation APN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN An advanced practice nurse (APN) can generally be defined as a nurse who possesses advanced degrees, accomplished a recognized advanced practice nurse program and has been awarded a national certificate in a specialty by the Credentialing Center of American Nurses or any other credentialing body that has a federal approval. He or she would also have finished an advanced pharmacology education that allows for the privileges of prescribing and dispensing. Lastly, the advanced practice nurse ought to have a license as a registered nurse or advanced practice nurse in at least one of the states of the United States of America (Grim, 2006). The discussion that follows will outline an APN professional development plan as well as give the role of the advanced practice nurse. Introduction to the APN Professional Development Plan The APN professional development plan would involve six aspects. First is the attendance of continuing education forums like conferences, workshops, clinical updates and rounds that target clinical treatment. Second, the APN can critically review relevant literature like academic journal articles that are targeting clinical treatment. The APN should after that consider how this study impacts their professional development. Thirdly, the APN can enroll for an academic credit course whose focus touches on their practice. Fourthly, the APN can teach other health professionals by offering educational seminars, lectures as well as presentations. Fifthly, the APN can write publications whose aim is to facilitate the integration of evidence-based knowledge into their practice. Lastly, the APN can conduct research that is relevant to their professional field. APN Scope of Practice The scope of practice of the APN includes nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists and clinical nurse specialists. As a nurse practitioner, the APN can work as a licensed and self-regulating practitioner. He or she can conduct an examination on patients and establish the relevant medical diagnosis through the use of the medical history of the client as well as physical analysis. This nurse can command, conduct and deduce screening studies, checks, and diagnostic processes to evaluate and diagnose problems (Fagerstrom & Wangensteen, 2014). This will enable them to institute management and treatment plans. The nurse is in a position to induct consultation, cooperation and applications for a referral to other health professionals and specialists. The nurse can offer pieces of advice, counsel as well as educate communities, families and patients about the contemporary health status and illnesses. Through this advice, education, and counsel, he or she can provide health promotion services and services on how to prevent a number of diseases while taking into account various factors, for example, age, lifestyle issues, matters religion, the sexual orientation of the parties concerned as well as their status of development. The nurse can also deliver suitable intermittent mental illnesses assessments and screening. This can be coupled with counseling sessions for victims of domestic violence, drug addiction, and mental illness. The nurse is in a proper position to recommend and distribute substances that are controlled by the APN state license of an individual. When given an opportunity by an employing facility, this nurse can admit, take care of and release patients once they have been adequately treated. While taking care of the patients, the Nurse will provide proficient care in line with the culture, tribe, beliefs and practices of the patient in question (Schleter, 2010). The relevant laws and regulations require that the nurse practices only within his or her subject area of training and certification. This method is supposed to be in line with the standards laid down by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners or by any other American professional organization for a specified type of specialty for example emergency care, pediatrics or geriatrics. The APN as a certified nurse-midwife handles carrying out several duties in the medical centers. Just like the nurse practitioner, this type of a nurse can also work as a licensed and self-regulating practitioner. The certified nurse-midwife offers women’s health acre that is primarily inclined to the women’s reproductive health. Given an opportunity by the facility that he or she is employed, this nurse can admit as well as discharge women into and out of those medical services. The nurse-midwife can call for diagnostic examinations that have also been conducted to x-rays, sonograms and laboratory tests. For this nurse-midwife to be able to establish the relevant management and treatment plans for a patient under their care, he or she can analyze and interpret the data presented to them and convey the most appropriate diagnoses (Paktus, 2003). The nurse-midwife can offer pre-natal and post-natal care of the patient that is level and selected at-risk obstetrical. The nurse-midwife can manage pregnancies that are complicated through the consultation and cooperation with a physician. He or she can make use of practice guidelines that have been laid down for unfolding the parameters of service for independent and cooperative midwifery management and assignment of care whenever the need arises. The nurse can gauge the fetal labor well-being. Once the women give birth, the nurse midwife is responsible for evaluating and caring for the newborn and this includes care in the management of the newborn’s airway, preliminary examination, revitalization and the general well-being of the newborn baby. The nurse-midwife can also take care of certain conditions that are chronic, acute and episodic in women. If the process of the disease exceeds the nurse-midwife’s training, education as well as experience, then he or she can refer the patients to a more specialized health care professional. The nurse also screens, assesses, treats and offers health education to patients with gynecological conditions. This is according to the treatment of women and their partners of sexually transmitted diseases. Lastly, the nurse offers preliminary examinations of infertility in women and provides referrals if necessary. The APN as registered nurse anesthetists first and foremost can work as an independent and licensed practitioner. He or she handles the performance and documentation of pre-anesthetic assessments and examinations of patients. He or she handles obtaining consents from patients for anesthesia and administration of pre-anesthetic fluids and medications. The development and implementation of anesthetic plans are done by this type of an APN. They will select and apply the proposed technique of anesthetic that may involve general, local, regional anesthesia and sedation that is intravenous. Lastly, this nurse is responsible for the management of the pulmonary status and the airway of a patient through the use of endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, respiratory therapy, pharmacological support as well as airway adjuncts (Schleter, 2010). Last but not least, the APN as a clinical nurse specialty can perform all the roles that a nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife and certified registered nurse anesthetists can perform. This is however only possible if the clinical nurse specialist is licensed as a nurse practitioner by the relevant authorities. Personal Assessment for an APN It is recommended that an APN uses the Benner’s Novice to Expert model to conduct their self-assessment. The stages involved in this design are a novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert (Illinois Department of Public Aid, 2002). After conducting my self-assessment, I have come to the conclusion that I am a skilled APN. This is because I have a practical grasp of clinical knowledge with the use of my intuition. I am also finding it easy and less stressful to perform various clinical actions. It is also notable that I have become more flexible, responsible, and I am accurately involved with all my team members in the APN field. Lastly, I have gained excellent skills that can employ to educate my patients on clinical matters. Networking and Marketing Strategies for an APN There are some networking and marketing strategies that APNs can employ in order to endorse themselves as well as their services. First and foremost, they can network and cooperative with their colleagues (DeNisco & Barker, 2013). This will help them to establish concrete relationships that can lead to referrals. The APN can also advertise their services by recording lectures about their specialty and skills and distributing the same to health stores as well as placing advertisements in common areas in their locality. The advertisements can also be included in church bulletin (Rivera, 2012). This will be an efficient and effective mode to promote their services as there are many people who attend church services, and therefore he or she will get the gathering required. The referral by patients can also be a perfect marketing strategy. The APN can treat their patients with the highest skills and quality that can be thought of. This will make the patient be satisfied with the services and hence enhance their trustworthiness in the APN. With this, the patient can easily refer other patients as he or she will have reason to believe that they will be treated correctly. Conclusion The APN can also write health columns in their local newspapers as well as conducting health fairs. This will increase his or her awareness among the relevant personnel. The APN can equally make a point of reaching out to the community through public speaking. Lastly, the APN can employ a health care market consultant and attend market seminars (Rivera, 2012). This will give them market skills that they aspire for to efficient market themselves and their services. There are significant aspects of an APN professional development plan are education, review of the literature, writing publications and carrying out of research. References DeNisco, S. M. & Barker, A. M. (2013). Advanced Practice Nursing: Evolving Roles for the Transformation of the Profession, (2nd Edition). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Fagerstrom, L. & Wangensteen, S. (2014). An international study of advanced practice nursing students’ clinical competence using the PROFFNurse SAS: The Professional self-assessment scale of core clinical competencies. Hogskolen. Grim, C. W., (2006). Advanced practice nurses. Indian Health Manual (IHM) Illinois Department of Public Aid, (2002). Handbook for advanced practice nurses: Policy and procedures for advanced practice nurse services. Illinois Patkus, B. (2003). Assessing preservation needs: A self-survey guide. Massachusetts: Northeast Document Conservation Center Rivera, C. (2012). Marketing, Contracting and Reimbursement for the advanced practice nurse. Prezi Schleter, S. F. (2010). Uplifting advanced practice nursing with continuing professional development and E-Communication. St. Catherine University Read More