Roles of a Family Nurse Practitioner

Summary

Family nurse practitioner plays a very critical role in society. The duties of a family nurse practitioner may vary based on the area of assignment. Some of the common roles include offering care services to inpatients and outpatients, diagnosis of common chronic diseases and their management, administering of drugs, and monitoring the progress of patients among other tasks.

Scope of practice

Family nurse practitioners can work in many institutions. Inasmuch as they are commonly assigned to work in institutions offering care for the elderly, this is not the limit of their scope of practice. They can work in hospitals or any other facility that offers medical care to patients (Grossman, 2013).

Core competencies

Many states have different requirements for anyone who wants to become a family nurse practitioner. In Illinois, one must have a degree in nursing. He/she must have national certification and APN license in the state of Illinois.

Certification requirements

The state of Illinois has a board that is responsible for issuing the certificates to individuals who wish to practice nursing. To be registered by the board, one must be a holder of at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing. When making the application for the certificate, one must pay a fee of $ 125. The license is renewable on a yearly basis.

Legal aspects of practice

The legal aspect of this practice is not very different from that of other medical practitioners. One has to be legally registered to practice as a nurse. It is also important to note that nurses are legally liable for crimes of negligence.

Practice Environment and Population

I plan to work in homes for the elderly within Illinois. The target populations I will be working with are about 250 elderly persons. There will be many peers and colleagues in this environment, some of whom will be joining these institutions at the same time after graduation.

Leadership

Leadership is very important in nursing. In my professional nursing, I believe that I will be a leader. As a leader, I will embrace transformational leadership principles at all times. I believe in governance by the people. One of the most important leadership attributes that I will champion is the ability for everyone to get the opportunity to demonstrate their capacities to deliver quality services and improve our working environment. I will involve everyone in the leadership process, especially when coming up with policies to govern the organization. I will need to learn more about teamwork.

Roles of a nurse practitioner, nurse educator, nurse informaticist, and nurse administrator

The roles of a nurse practitioner, nurse educator, nurse informaticist, and nurse administrator in advanced practice nursing are similar in that they all seek to offer care to patients. However, there are a number of differences in their roles pertaining to clinical practices, primary care, education, administration, and research (Mauk & Schmidt, 2009). While nurse practitioners are more focused on offering care, nurse educators focus more on research and education. Nurse administrators on their part focus on the management of human resource while nurse informaticist tries to find out the relationship between nursing and information technology.

Current policy and what needs to change

Currently, nurses work strictly under the directive of medical doctors, especially when handling inpatients. The policy may need to change in order to empower the services of the nurses. The justification of this change is that nurses find themselves in situations where they have to make critical decisions (Laiho, 2010). They should be trained and empowered to make these decisions. The change should start in the institutions of higher learning and should include all the stakeholders in nursing practice. I will champion this change by engaging the relevant authorities in this discussion. This change will improve the quality of healthcare services offered by our nurses.

References

Grossman, S. (2013). Mentoring in nursing: A dynamic and collaborative process. New York: Springer Pub. Co.

Laiho, A. (2010). Academisation of nursing education in the Nordic Countries. Higher Education, 60(6), 641-656.

Mauk, K. L., & Schmidt, N. A. (2009). Spiritual care in nursing practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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