NRNP 6531 Career Goals: Strengths and Challenges Related to Nursing Practice Competencies

Description of career goals

As the Director of Nurses at a community health center, I have set a goal to transition into a family nurse practitioner role and return to hands-on patient care at an advanced level. I am eager to step away from the paperwork and administrative tasks that currently occupy much of my time and focus on providing direct care to patients. Becoming a nurse practitioner will allow me to fulfill this goal and enhance my clinical skills in diagnosis, coding, prescribing, and overall patient care, as outlined in the objectives of this course.

Strengths and challenges

In my current administrative role, I have felt pulled away from my true passion and calling in nursing: direct patient care. However, working in the director of nursing position for the last 12 years, I have developed a strength in leadership and decision-making that should support me well in my new role. I am committed to transitioning into a nurse practitioner role and leveraging this course to enhance my clinical skills. Reflecting on my nursing career and my self-assessment of clinical procedures, I’m mostly confident that clinical procedures will not hinder my success. I anticipate my challenges to be within diagnosis, management, and prescribing. Although I’m excited about prescribing as a nurse practitioner, it is a level of responsibility that I take seriously, and I look forward to honing this skill through the guidance of this course.

Objectives of the course

One aspect of the practice I am particularly interested in improving is my proficiency in diagnosis and coding. I understand the significance of accurate coding in healthcare practice for billing purposes and ensuring proper documentation and continuity of care (Cora, 2020). I’m hopeful this course will provide me with the knowledge and skills to enhance my coding abilities and make meaningful contributions to the practice through accurate and thorough documentation (Shanahan et al., 2022).

In addition, this course will assist us in understanding collaborative practice and its critical component in becoming a nurse practitioner.

This course is instrumental in preparing us to become competent and compassionate family nurse practitioners (Chaney et al., 2022). I aspire to make a positive impact on patients in community health systems and make meaningful contributions to the healthcare system.

References

Chaney, A., Martin, A., Cardona, K., & Presutti, R. J. (2022). Nurse practitioner and physician assistant onboarding in a family medicine practice. AANP, 522–528,. doi: Nurse practitioner and physician assistant onboarding in a family medicine practice

Cora, V. (2020). Coding and Reimbursement Update for NPs in Ambulatory and Long-term Care Settings. Medscape. Retrieved from https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/493662

Shanahan, T., Gurley, L., Chatman, .., & Cunningham, J. (2022). Promoting understanding of medical decision-making coding for nurse practitioner students. AANP, 34. http://doi.org:10.1097/JXX.0000000000000789

During this course I hope to improve upon the skill sets I have and gain new insight into caring for the adult population in a primary care setting. After nearly ten years of bedside nursing, I feel competent in my role as an RN, I hope that this course and the practical application of systems learned will allow me to take my existing knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of the APRN role; including diagnosis and treatment of chronic and acute disease processes. I hope that this course helps me identify evidence-based methods of patient care that continue to improve the quality of care I can provide.

After reviewing the Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies, I was able to determine the three competencies that felt most true to my current and future self as an APRN. The core competency that resonated most with me was related to ethics; “Applies ethically sound solutions to complex issues related to individuals, populations and systems of care”. (Thomas et al., 2011) I aim to maintain a strong ethical and moral compass throughout my career as an APRN. My goal is to provide care to women and girls in rural populations. This specialty of care and the population it will serve often requires ethically sound solutions. Healthcare in the United States for women and girls is deeply tied to politics and can often be determined by a vote, not evidence-based practice. As a practitioner I will be required to care for my patients to the best of my ability in a way that is ethical and safe. After the overturning of Roe v. wade   many practitioners are having to rely on this core competency, The European Journal of contraception & Reproductive Healthcare published an article this month outlining the possible consequences of abortion bans on women’s health:

“Additionally, we envision challenges for the treatment of women with certain autoimmune conditions, pregnant cancer patients, and patients contemplating preimplantation genetic diagnosis as part of assisted reproductive technologies”. (Stein et al., 2022)

Caring for patients in this at-risk population will require the application of ethically sound solutions to a very complex set of issues.

The second competency I chose reads as follows: “Uses best available evidence to continuously improve quality of clinical practice”. (Thomas et al., 2011) Evidence based practice is a critical component of quality patient care. With ever changing technology and scientific advancement, implementing evidence-based care is not only important but critical in ensuring that patients receive the safest and most effective treatment. Completing a master’s degree in advanced nursing allows practitioners the education they need to implement evidence-based practice.  A study published in 2023 found that graduate nurses found themselves more equipped to implement evidence-based practice which had a profound impact on the care they provided and their work-related self-confidence. (Relster et al., 2023)

The final competency that spoke to me was related to disease prevention and health promotion. Throughout my experience in the healthcare system, I have seen many failings when it comes to disease prevention and health promotion. Astounding numbers of Americans have preventable chronic diseases that reduce their quality of life and longevity. As an APRN I would like to focus my practice on educating patients and reducing negative outcomes that could be prevented by health promotion.

I hope that this course allows me to gain the knowledge and skill to implement these competencies into my current and future practice. The aim to improve patient outcomes while maintaining an ethical and sound practitioner-patient relationship Is my goal for my future as an APRN.

Relster, M., Nielsen, S. H., Thrysøe, L., Dieperink, K. B., Nielsen, D. S., & Tolstrup, L. K. (2023). Transition from masters of nursing to clinical practice. Nurse Education Today, 128, 105882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105882

Stein, R. A., Katz, A., & Chervenak, F. A. (2022). The far-reaching impact of abortion bans: Reproductive Care and Beyond. The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care, 28(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13625187.2022.2140008

Thomas, A. c, Crabtree, M. K., Delaney, K. R., Dumas, M. A., Kleinpell, R., Logsdon, M. C., Marfell, J., & Nativio, D. G. (2011, April). National Organization of Nurse practitioner faculties (NONPF). NONPF – 1 NURSE PRACTITIONER CORE COMPETENCIES. https://www.nonpf.org