RUNNINGHEAD: ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 1 Advanced Nurse Practitioner Today’s New Craze Denise Thompson Cumberland County CollegeADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 2 Advanced Nurse Practitioner I am enthusiastic about caring for others and want to do more in m y occupation.
I am considering A dvanced Nurse P ractitioner as an occupation . An Advanced Nurse Pra cti tioner known as an APN is a registered nurse , ” who has acquired expert knowledge base, complex decision -making skills and clinical competencies for expanded practice. Advanced Nurse Practitioners attempt to maximize the use of knowledge and skills to improve the delivery of nursing and healthcare services. ” ( international.a anp.org). It is with these skills that nursing is moving from a primary physician’s office into specialty service s.
Using latest training and certifications, these advanced nurses are building networks through hospitals, physician practices, and are play ing a vital role in the advancement of healthcare. Nurse Practitioner jobs differ by state, but the purpose is to work as a primary medical care provider. Nurse practitioner s work in hospitals, medical clinics, prisons, community health, urgent care facilities and military. Some states allow nurse practitioners to work independently, but New Jersey mandates that you work under a licensed physician. Nurse practitioners can carry out basic functions like stitching cuts, ordering lab work and draining abscesses. Besides assessing patients, they must record their activities and findings in each patient’s chart. A nurse practitioner’s job calls for a substantial amount of education and experience.
Before becoming a nurse practitioner, you should start going after a degree as a Registered Nurse (RN). An important part of learning will come from clinical study and practice.ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 3 During rotation of clinics you will begin to gain comprehension regarding mental health, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics and general surgery. The last step in becoming a RN is to pass the National Council Licensure Exam for RNs. After two or more years of practice as a RN, you will be ready to go after the advanced education needed to become a nurse practitioner. A nurse practitioner involves earning a Master of Science degree in nursing or a doctorate of nursing practice, 500 hours of clinical practice and completion of certification examination. During graduation you will pick a specialty as a nurse practitioner. (https://work.
chron.com ). Skills that I obtain will be geared toward mental health.
Working with patients with mental health issues may become challenging, but that is my passion. Becoming a member of professional organizations committed to psychiatric nursing can provide support. The America n Psychiatric Nurses Association, the International Society of Psychiatric -Mental Health Nurses and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners are just to name a few organizations that can offer support in the specialty area. (www.healthecareers.com ). I am exploring my options to determine salaries, statistical areas of study, and my future endeavors . If I decide to pursue the challenge of being an advanced nurse practitioner, it would be with the psyc hiatric -mental health population.
I have a passion for those individuals who experience mental health issues. “The healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act have directed greater attention to healthcare prevention of mental health and mental wellness promotion related issues. ” ( www.elsevier.com/locate/apnu ). Salary ranges can vary depending on the city, your education, certifications, additional skills and the number of years in your profession.
The average Nurse Practitioner salary in New Jersey is $118,519 as of September 28, 2018, but the range typically fa lls between $109,974 and $128,751. (salary.com)ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 4 “The American Psychiatric Nurse Association is one of the most vibrant professional associations in this field. ” ( www.nursepractitionerschool.com ).
As an APN I would have a civic duty to help the mentally disturbed find out ways to get along in the world. The nursing process will help me with how I would practice. I would diagnose their illnesses, treat them through group th erapy and prescribe medicatio ns to help patients who depend on me to help manage their treatment as well as their lives using my full scope of therapeutic skills . Tele -meds allows the APN to treat, evaluate and diagnose more patients in distant locations.
Tele -medicine is becoming an important part of the American healthcare network. (chironhealth.com) Tele -meds has a disadvantage of the patient not being in the same room, but it can create a sense of safety, security, and privacy for the patient in crisis. To summarize the Advanced Nurse Practitioner career in working with mental health patients, it is important to note that psychiatric nursing includes many fields of interest such as mental health centers, hospitals, outpatient clinic, schools, addiction – recovery facilitie s, and government agencies. Providing therapy and managing cases in a private setting is an option as well. I believe that all mental health facilities within a hospital setting must include measures for employee safety when a guidance area for evaluation in unavailable. As with many places as this, mental health patients have a difficult time of being treated and transferred to another location due to lack of staff and area provisions. When a mental health patient reports to an Emergency room in crisis, gu idance is given to the patient in the form of an advanced nurse practitioner.
Psychiatry is more important to the general public than ever before with the rise of mental and behavioral health. ( www. montevistahospital.com) As our nation continues to strugg le with the primary -care physician shortage, nurse practitioners have steadily increased to fill the deepening gap with quality care providers .ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 5 (www.clinical advisor.
com) It is time for the APN profession to stand in the forefront and have their voices res onate. References www.clinical advisor.com www.elsevier.com/locate/apnu www.healthecareers.com www.international.aanp.org www.montevistahospital.com www.nursepractitionerschool.com www.salary.com https://wor k.chron.comADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 6ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER 7
