NUR502 Theoretical Foundations For Nursing Roles And Practice

Introduction

A master’s degree in nursing under the certification of American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is core nursing education that enables advanced practice nurses to work as register nurse practitioners, certified clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives, and certified nurse anesthetists. I have selected nurse practitioner as a career option of my interviewee. This is because; nurse practitioner is designated as the general career under the advanced practice nurse specialties. However, this general approach in their job role enables them to work in close association with a diverse group of population and these include mental health, pediatrics, geriatrics, women’s health care and adult acute care (AACN, 2017). This assignment will mainly focus on the experience and the job role of the critical care nurse practitioner. Since they focus on the general health and well-being of the person along with proper patient education, I consider them as the main pillar of maintaining healthy lifestyles among the gross population.

Overview of the master’s-prepared nurse’s career

As per the interview transcripts, it is evident that the career role my interview, Miss X (named changed of the interviewee) is mostly centered on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of the individuals and their family of careers who are suffering from mental and physical disorders. This description helps to provide a brief insight about her role as nurse practitioner in health. Moreover, the description also goes in harmony with the information highlighted by (Rosedale, Knight & Standard, 2015). According to Rosedale, Knight and Standard (2015) APRN are providers of comprehensive health services. This utilization of APRN in mental health regulation is of high quality and cost-effective. This results in the reduction of the clinical symptoms along with sustained improvement in the domain of clinical care. Miss X also informed that her career path also entails proved perception for the quality of care followed by improved quality of life, reduction in medication errors, increased level of patient satisfaction.

Usefulness of graduate education for present role

My interviewee is of the opinion that her graduation course helped her to refine numerous skills and this includes leadership in nursing practice and man management. The graduate discipline also helped her to get a detailed insight about the prevailing healthcare policies of America and associated government norms and position. Miss X also stated that in the final year of the nursing program they were taught about the academia in practice-based nursing programs, which mainly involved community based practice.  According to Wong, Cummings and Ducharme (2013), there exists a direct relation between the leadership style of the nurses and the patients’ outcomes. It has been seen that the nurses who abide by the relational or transformational leadership models are extremely compatible with the patients which highest possible health outcomes (Wong, Cummings & Ducharme, 2013).  According to Patel and Rushefsky (2014), an accurate policymaking should initiate via asking people what they need to sustain the live in a way they want and what kind of support they get in availing special facilities that are designed for them. So knowing the health care policies at the graduate level helps the aspiring nurses to take meaningful roles under the community settings via overcoming mental and physical health challenges. Moreover, working in community settings can be regarded as one of the most useful trajectory of graduate course of nursing because according to Goldberg and Huxley (2012), community care helps to improve patient education and thereby helping to increase disease awareness and quality of care.

Present Position: pearls of wisdom

Miss X generally highlighted that the two main virtues that are highlight significant in her present position include organizational and systems leadership and quality improvement and safety. These are indeed are critical for upholding the nursing practice because according to AACN (2017), organizational and systems leaderships are critical towards the promotion of the high quality yet safe patients care. Here the skills of leadership are important for undertaking ethical and critical decision-making. AACN (2011) further opined that the knowledge of master’s-prepared nurse in these domains are relevant with healthcare and nursing goals in order to reduce the discrepancies in health while promoting excellence in practice. Miss X is of the opinion that the master’s-level practice encompass not only direct care to the patients but also aims on the system that provide care while serving the needs of the panel patients, community or a defined population. She thinks to be effect the nurse is required to demonstrate leadership via maintaining effective workplace relationship via using respectful collaboration and communication within interprofessional teams.

In the domain of quality improvement, Miss X opined that continuous quality improvement is based on the implementation of the evidence-based plans along with compare and contrast of several quality improvement models. She further opined that during the course of her job, she has understood that the continuous quality improvement encompass every level of healthcare organizations. It is the duty of the master’s-prepared nurse to be articulate in the tools, methods, performance measures and cultural safety principles within the organization and community. She told that main module used for quality improvement include brainstorming, flow chart, fishbone cause and effect along with associated factors like Find, Select-plan, Do, Check (AACN, 2011).

Conclusion

Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that graduation degree is an important step in the academic ground for the master’s prepared nurse under the AACN settings. Moreover, this interview also helped me to get a detailed insight regarding the importance of the organizational and systems leadership and quality improvement and safety in the master’s prepared nurse (general nurse practitioners) under AACN settings.

Personal Reflection

Conducting this interview, helped me to gain a detailed overview about the journey of a nurse from the graduate course to master level course and finally venturing into the work-field. Initially I used to think that the profession of nursing is like working as a subordinate to doctors with no significant contribution in the care plan. However, my interview with the Miss X  helped me change my view altogether. I understood that the as a nurse practitioner, I am required to take active participation in the quality improvement plans in the healthcare while exercising leadership skills in order to improve excellence in practice.

Interview Questions

1. What is your name?
2. What is your area of specialization in master-level nursing education?
3. How graduation course have helped you to refine your knowledge of nursing?
4. What are the special aspects of master level nursing in American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)?

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)., (2011). The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing. Accessed on: 5^th April. Retrieved from: https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/MastersEssentials11.pdf

American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]., (2017). Master’s Education. Accessed on: 5^th April. Retrieved from: https://www.aacnnursing.org/Nursing-Education-Programs/Masters-Education

Goldberg, D., & Huxley, P. (2012). Mental illness in the community: the pathway to psychiatric care. Routledge.

Patel, K., & Rushefsky, M. E. (2014). Healthcare politics and policy in America. Public Integrity, 17(1), 94-96.

Rosedale, M., Knight, C., & Standard, J. (2015). The Role of the Psychiatric Mental Health: Advanced Practice Registered Nurse in the Scope of Psychiatric Practice. The journal of ECT, 31(4), 205-206.

Wong, C. A., Cummings, G. G., & Ducharme, L. (2013). The relationship between nursing leadership and patient outcomes: a systematic review update. Journal of nursing management, 21(5), 709-724. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12116