[ANSWERED] Advance Practical Nurse (APN) Professional Development Plan Paper

Last Updated on March 4, 2024 by Admin

Advance Practical Nurse (APN) Professional Development Plan Paper

Advance Practical Nurse (APN) Professional Development Plan Paper

Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to provide the student with an opportunity to explore the nurse practitioner (NP) practice requirements in his/her state of practice, NP competencies and leadership skills to develop a plan to support professional development.

Activity Learning Outcomes
Through this assignment, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

Examine roles and competencies of advanced practice nurses essential to performing as leaders and advocates of holistic, safe, and quality care. (CO1)
Analyze essential skills needed to lead within the context of complex systems. (CO3)
Explore the process of scholarship engagement to improve health and healthcare outcomes in various settings. (CO4)

When the assignment is placed in the dropbox, it will automatically be submitted to Turnitin. You may submit the assignment one additional time before the due date to lower the Turnitin score. If you choose to resubmit, the second submission will be considered final and subject to grading. Once the due date for the assignment passes, you may not resubmit to lower a Turnitin score.
Requirements:
The APN Professional Development Plan paper is worth 200 points and will be graded on the quality of the content, use of citations, use of Standard English grammar, sentence structure, and overall organization based on the required components as summarized in the directions and grading criteria/rubric.
Follow the directions below and the grading criteria located in the rubric closely. Any questions about this paper may be posted under the Q & A Forum or emailed to your faculty.
The length of the paper should be 5-8 pages, excluding title page and reference page(s).
Support ideas with a minimum of 3 scholarly resources. Scholarly resources do not include your textbook. You may need to use more than 3 scholarly resources to fully support your ideas.
You may use first person voice when discussing information specific to your personal practice or skills.
APA (2010) format is required with both a title page and reference page(s). Use the following as Level 1 headings to denote the sections of your paper (Level 1 headings use upper- and lower-case letters and are bold and centered):

APN Professional Development Plan (This is the paper introduction. In APA format, a restatement of the paper title, centered and not bold serves as the heading of the introduction section)
APN Scope of Practice
Nurse Practitioner (NONPF) Core Competencies
Leadership Skills
Conclusion

Directions:

Introduction: Provide an overview of what will be covered in the paper. Introduction should include general statements on scope of practice, competencies, and leadership, and identification of the purpose of the paper.
APN Scope of Practice: Research the Nurse Practice Act and APN scope of practice guidelines for the state in which you intend to practice after graduation. Describe the educational, licensure, and regulatory requirements for that state in your own words. Identify whether your state allows full, limited, or restricted NP practice. Discuss NP prescriptive authority in your state. Provide support from at least one scholarly source. Source may be the regulatory body that governs nursing practice in your state.
Nurse Practitioner (NONPF) Core Competencies: Review the NONPF Core Competencies. Describe two competency areas you believe to be personal strengths and two competency areas in which you have opportunities for growth. Discuss two scholarly activities you could do during the master’s program to help yourself achieve NP competencies. Provide support from at least one scholarly source. Source may be NONPF Core Competencies document provided via the link in the week 2 readings.
Leadership Skills: Analyze three leadership skills required to lead as an NP within complex systems. Describe two strategies you could use to help you develop NP leadership skills. Provide support from at least one scholarly source. Textbooks are not considered scholarly sources.
Conclusion: Provide a conclusion, including a brief summary of what you discussed in the paper.

Rubric
Introduction: Provides an overview of what will be covered in the paper. Introduction should include:
1. general statements on scope of practice 1. general statements on NP competencies
1. general statements on leadership 1. identification of the purpose of the paper

APN Scope of Practice : the intended state of practice after graduation
1. Describes the educational, licensure, and regulatory requirements for state
1. Identifies whether the state allows full, limited, or restricted NP practice
1. Discusses NP prescriptive authority in the state.
1. Provides support from at least one scholarly source. Source may be the regulatory body that governs nursing practice in the state… (Board of Registered Nursing) (AANP

Nurse Practitioner (NONPF) Core Competencies
1. Describes two competency areas believed to be student’s personal strengths (1. Independent Practice Competencies, Delivery system Competencies)
1. Describes two competency areas in which student has opportunities for growth competencies, 2. Leadership Competencies
1. Discusses two scholarly activities to do during the master’s program to help student achieve NP competencies. (Mentorship and Workshop or any you can cite)
Provides support from at least one scholarly source. Source may be NONPF Core Competencies document provided via the link in the week 2 readings.

Leadership Skills
1. Analyzes three leadership skills required to lead as an NP within complex systems (Critical thinking skill, Communication skill, Problem solving skill, or any you can cite)
1. Describes two strategies student could use to help develop NP leadership skills. (Conferences and Mentorship or any you can cite)
Provides support from at least one scholarly source.

Conclusion: Provides a conclusion, including a brief summary of what was discussed in the paper.

Writing Mechanics: Writing mechanics follow the rules of grammar, spelling, word usage, punctuation, and other aspects of formal written work as found in the 6th edition of the APA manual. The length of the paper is at least 5 pages but no more than 8 pages.
APA Formatting: Formatting follows APA Manual (6th ed.) guidelines for
1. title page, running head, body of paper (including citations and headings), reference page

Expert Answer and Explanation

APN Professional Development Plan

The American Nursing Association (n.d) defines the scope of practice as the services that an experienced and qualified healthcare professional can perform and deemed fit to execute. In other words, the scope of practice is fulfilling the terms in the professional nursing license. It defines what, who, when, where, and why of nursing practice. Apart from understanding their scope of practice, every nurse practitioner (NP) is needed to understand their core competencies once they graduate from school to improve their knowledge on what they should do when providing care in a healthcare setting.

Creating NP core competencies was given to the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). The NONPF has defined NP core competencies in nine broad areas: quality, scientific foundations, policy, ethics, practice inquiry, independent practice, health delivery system, leadership, and technology and information literacy. Nurses are also needed to have leadership skills that can help them provide quality and safe care. The purpose of the assignment is to explore NP practice requirements in the State of Florida and NP competencies and leadership skills that can support NP’s professional development.

APA Scope of Practice

I intend to practice in the State of Florida. The educational requirement for a registered nurse to become a certified APN in the state is to have a master’s or post-master program degree in the nursing major. However, the requirement does not apply to nurses who graduated before October 1st, 1998, and nurse anesthetists who graduated before October 1st, 2001 (Florida Board of Nursing, n.d). The individual must also have a certificate from a recognized nursing specialty board.

Some of the boards include the American College of Nurse-Midwives, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Nurses Credentialing Center, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses, National Board of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and Associates, and Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation. The individual must also have an RN license to get a certification to practice as an APN in the state. The individual is also mandated to take a two-hour course about medical errors prevention.

The nurse must also have liability insurance, provide supporting documents to affirm criminal history, transcripts of educational certificates, and fingerprint-based background checks. Individuals with a Florida RN license are required to pay $100, and the ones applying for both credentials concurrently are required to pay $210 (Florida Board of Nursing, n.d). A law was passed to allow APNs in Florida to practice to the full extent of their training and education.

The law notes that for ANPs to operate independently without attending a doctor, they must have accumulated at 3000 hours of experience under the supervision of a physician (Florida House of Representatives, 2020). The professionals with also have complete a course in pharmacology and differential diagnosis. The bill also gave ANPs in the State of Florida prescriptive authority (Florida House of Representatives, 2020). In other words, ANPs in Florida can diagnose patients, order and interpret tests, and develop a treatment plan, including prescribing drugs.

Nurse Practitioner (NONPF) Core Competencies

The NONPF defines core competencies in nine areas. However, I am skillful in two main competencies. The first competency is independent practice. NONPF (2012) notes that the independent practice competencies provide nurses with the ability to practice independently. An independent practitioner is a person who is allowed by law to provide care without supervision. The competencies under this area include patient assessment, treatment, and diagnosis. I know diagnostic and screening protocols, differentiate between normal and abnormal findings during the patient assessment and prescribe drugs as stated by the state laws.

I can also provide counseling, preventive care, and plan patient treatment. I can also effectively and independently diagnose a patient and provide them a quality and safe treatment. The second competency I am skilled in is delivery system competency. Delivery system competency is about developing, planning, and implementing community and public health programs (NONPF, 2012). This competency needs NPs to improve community health. I can improve community health by providing culturally competent care, work with other professionals, and plan community health programs.

I have the opportunity to grow in leadership competencies. NONPF (2012) says that leadership competency focuses on advocacy, scholarship, and accountability. The competency also includes communication skills, engagement in professional organizations, and cultural sensitivity. My wiring and oral communication skills are superb. I also can liaise with various parties within the healthcare sector to improve care services. I am also a good team manager.

However, I need to improve my skills in using technology to lead nursing teams, apply modern leadership models, and incorporating innovations in my leadership. I also need to improve in policy competencies. NONPF defines health policy as important decisions influencing resource allocation in healthcare delivery. I need to improve my skills in healthcare finance so that I can make better decisions regarding the healthcare budget. I also need to improve my skills in policy advocacy. After designing a policy, it should be advocated for so that it can be supported by many people (Raynor et al., 2021). This skill will highly help me push policies that I have made.

I can achieve the NP competencies through various scholarly activities. One of the scholarly activities is the 5th Edition – Nursing World Conference. The conference will be held in Orlando, Florida, on October 18-20, 2021. The second conference is the International Conference on Team Nursing, Leadership Roles and Management (ICTNLRM). The conference will be held in Los Angeles, the United States, on October 28th, 2021. These scholarly activities will improve my leadership skills and knowledge on using technology and innovations in providing nursing care.

Leadership Skills

One of the leadership skills and NP needs is communication. Through communication, NP leaders set the tone for an entire nursing department by communicating with patients, families, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. Communication will help NP leaders to connect with healthcare stakeholders effectively and efficiently (Expósito et al., 2018). The authors also note that proper communication skills can help NP leaders solve various conflicts in their practice line.

Another leadership skill an NP leader needs is problem-solving. Shahbazi et al. (2018) note that nurses depend on clinical experience and expertise in various care situations, but those with great problem-solving skills can provide better care to their patients. Problem-solving skills often help nurse leaders to see a problem as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. For instance, if patients complain of hospital-acquired infection, NP should develop solutions to solve the issue. The last leadership skill is critical-thinking skills. Nurses apply critical thinking in solving various problems encountered in practice. Critical thinking is a vital process for an efficient, safe, and effective nursing intervention.

One of the strategies a nursing student can use to improve their leadership skills is mentorship. Through mentorship programs, nurse students can be influenced and given direction and guidance on becoming the best leaders (Henley et al., 2017). The NP leader can also identify a mentor they can look up to when performing their leadership roles. Through mentorship, NP leaders can learn to connect with their employees and build and increase knowledge and skills for goal development (Havig & Hollister, 2018).

The second strategy is conferences. NP leaders can develop their leadership skills by attending leadership conferences. In the conferences, NP can learn about other cultures and how to relate with other people. They can also learn new leadership models through the conferences. Some of the leadership conferences an NP leader can attend to improve their leadership skills include the 2021 Academic Nursing Leadership Conference (ANLC) and the International Conference on Nursing Leadership and Nursing Management (ICNLNM), held in the US.

Conclusion

A professional development plan improves NP’s readiness for ANP roles. In Florida, ANPs are allowed to fully perform their duties without supervision and can even prescribe medications provided they adhere to ANP licensure certification and all qualifications. NONPF provided nine core competencies nursing students should be competent in when performing their duties.

My strengths include independent practice and delivery system competencies. I have the opportunity to improve policy and leadership competencies. I can improve the competencies through the 5th Edition – Nursing World Conference and ICTNLRM. NP leaders need communication, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills in their leadership. They can improve these practices through mentorship and conferences.

References

American Nursing Association. (n.d). Scope of practice: Scope of practice defined in nursing. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/scope-of-practice/

Expósito, J. S., Costa, C. L., Agea, J. L. D., Izquierdo, M. D. C., & Rodríguez, D. J. (2018). Ensuring relational competency in critical care: Importance of nursing students’ communication skills. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 44, 85-91. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2017.08.010

Florida Board of Nursing. (n.d). Advanced practice registered nurse. Retrieved from https://floridasnursing.gov/licensing/advanced-practice-registered-nurse/

Florida House of Representatives. (2020). CS/CS/HB 607: Direct care workers. Retrieved from https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/607/BillText/er/PDF

Havig, A. K., & Hollister, B. (2018). How does leadership influence quality of care? Towards a model of leadership and the organization of work in nursing homes. Ageing International, 43(3), 366-389. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9304-8

Henley, A., Contreras, F., Espinosa, J. C., & Barbosa, D. (2017). Entrepreneurial intentions of Colombian business students: Planned behaviour, leadership skills and social capital. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-01-2017-0031

NONPF. (2012). Nurse practitioner core competencies. Retrieved from https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/competencies/npcorecompetenciesfinal2012.pdf

Raynor, J., Coffman, J., & Stachowiak, S. (2021). An introduction to policy advocacy evaluation: The concepts, history, and literature of the field. New Directions for Evaluation, 2021(171), 11-18. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.20478

Shahbazi, S., Heidari, M., Sureshjani, E. H., & Rezaei, P. (2018). Effects of problem-solving skill training on emotional intelligence of nursing students: An experimental study. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 7, 156. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_50_18

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