NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

Walden University NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE– Step-By-Step Guide

This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.

How to Research and Prepare for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.

How to Write the Introduction for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

The introduction for the Walden University NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.

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How to Write the Body for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

After the introduction, move into the main part of the NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.

Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.

How to Write the Conclusion for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.

How to Format the References List for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.

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Sample Answer for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

The role of the nurse with a practice doctorate

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is the one of the higher education levels in nursing, and it makes the way for leadership opportunities in diverse areas of nursing, healthcare, and educational facility settings. The DNP’s nursing understanding can positively impact nursing decisions in all healthcare organizations in patient outcome, leadership, healthcare policies, implementation, and evaluation. (Beeber, 2019).

The role of a practice nurse co-exists with that of a research practice nurse but clearly has some differences. Earning DNP helps to provide outstanding therapeutic care to patients at various levels. DNPs in leadership positions are constantly working to improve and ensure the quality of patient care. DNP can function in the following areas: as Director of Nursing, Nursing Administrator, Director of Patient Care Services, Chief Nursing Officer, or Nursing department Director, and can produce excellent patient care plans (Beeber, 2019).

 Practice doctorate as clearly stated is solely practice-focused involving showing performing nursing care or skills that provides services advance skills in that does not only enhance patient care but has the capability to impact the delivery of healthcare, improve organizational standards, and quality improvement initiatives. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006), practice-focused doctoral program is structured to prepare experts in specialized advanced nursing practice. These experts focus heavily on practice in that is innovative, evidence-based, and reflects the application of credible research findings improving outcomes (AACN, 2006).

Expectations associated with obtaining a DNP degree, including how these expectations might be different for a nurse who holds a different degree.

My expectation related to obtaining DNP is that the program prepares me as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner for an advanced clinic position and joins in advocating for a better policy in the healthcare system. I look forward to an excellent interdisciplinary collaboration in establishing a specialized nursing practice. I anticipate improving patient care outcomes within the community, county, and vulnerable populations (Beeber, 2019). Nurses with different degrees are not expected to or have the capacity to function in such a level that demands expanded skills sets and knowledge.

Organizations will clearly state the required and preferred qualifications of certain positions depending on the skills needed for that position when searching for workers. DNP-prepared nurses when employed in administrative or quality-centered positions, their employers appreciate them, and they are found to be nurses with broader perspectives and policy backgrounds needed in improving outcomes in their organizations (Beeber et al 2019).

Motivation to pursue a DNP and how the role as a DNP-prepared nurse will meet a potential organization’s need to address a gap in practice or implement a practice change.

My Motivation in pursuing a DNP degree has always been to improve and increase access of mental health services to the less privileged communities. Obtaining a DNP will not only increase the skills I need but will provide the leverage of advocating and understanding what needs to be changed in the system to make this happen. DNP functions on evidence-based practice in various practices, assessment, patient outcomes, and economics. However, in DNP research, there are ways to increase the cost- effectiveness of all patient care, and all patient care plans should be evaluated and made based on research, instruction, and evidence-based practice.

Discuss any experiences in addressing a gap in practice or a practice within an organization.

With my status as an Assisted Living Director, nurse manager, and the owner, my role is to ensure that all my clients are receiving the individualized care they need, looking into quality assurance and process improvement strategies to enhance efficiency in the care delivery model in the assisted living. Behavior such as anxiety, depression, aggression, and substance use from the clients, especially from the psychiatric patients with bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder PTSD and so on; these groups of patients require some support system to help them function and adhere to medical instruction. This problem or gap is a significant issue in managing the psychiatric patient; during a risk committee meeting, I recommended forming a social support group with other nurses that own their assisted living where we share some concerns and come up with some clinical decision in managing the clients. Some of these clients’ behaviors are lack of care, they need to know that someone really cares for them. After implementing the social support system, we noticed some changes in some of the clients’ behaviors. Patients with social support tend to adhere to their medication and are less challenging to manage. Therefore, the goal of nursing practice is physical and emotional comfort for the patient. (Lima et al., 2017

Reference

Beeber A. S., Palmer, C., Waldrop, J., Lynn, M. R., Jones, C.B. (2019). The role of Doctor of Nursing Practice-prepared nurses in practice settings. Nursing Outlook, 67(4) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2019.02.006.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). DNP essentials. Retrieved https://www.aacnnursing.org/DNP/DNP-Essentials.

Lima, J. V. F., Guedes, M. V. C., Silva, L. D. F. D., Freitas, M. C. D., & Fialho, A. V. D. M.

(2017). Usefulness of the comfort theory in the clinical nursing care of new mothers: critical analysis. Revista gaucha de enfermagem,37

Sample Answer 2 for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

 Role of a Nurse with Practice Doctorate and the expectations, including How these expectations might differ for a nurse with a different degree.

A Nurse with a Doctorate Degree plays a vital role in the clinical settings, the nursing field, and varies with the expectations and the job descriptions of a nurse with a different degree. In this discussion, I would like to discuss the role of a nurse with a practice doctorate. DNP Degree is one of the terminal degrees in the nursing profession, and it prepares the nurses to the highest level, including practicing advanced level in clinical settings. In addition, specialized DNP Nurses can provide advanced treatments and diagnose conditions; they can practice as doctors. Nurses with doctorate degrees deliver evidence-based care to all patients in clinical settings by involving in different clinical positions such as Nurse managers, advocates, supervisors, and Directors of nursing. Doctoral nurses mainly focus on two roles: leadership roles and best Educators. A doctoral degree is an advanced-based degree and plays a crucial role in doing research. A nurse with a doctorate degree should have the critical thinking, multiple skills, and advanced knowledge needed to deliver quality-based care to everyone in a clinical environment. Most DNP-prepared nurses work as APRNs, healthcare leaders, and Clinical Nurse Practitioners in the health system. As a registered nurse working in acute care settings and from my clinical experience, I have seen many doctoral nurses working in the unit and delivering direct patient care, working as direct nursing supervisors and best nurse educators.

The DNP degree allows professional nurses to identify the gaps and guide them to evaluate. Also, the main aim is to translate evidence into practice and to improve patient outcomes. In addition, DNP-prepared nurses work a phenomenal role in administrative positions, such as Chief Nurse Officers, Quality Directors, Nursing Practice Directors, and Senior Vice presidents of Clinical Operation, Nursing Outlook (2019). Among all, the main aim of doctoral nurses is to deliver evidence-based care. Doctoral-prepared practitioners are uniquely positioned for responsible leadership as essential members of the healthcare system. They are responsible for contributing to research and clinical inquiry initiatives that advance healthcare delivery and improve outcomes, Journal of the American Association of nurse practitioners, Falkenberg-Olson (August 2019).

According to the researchers and studies, the DNP program is a terminal degree Outlined for nursing professionals to improve their skills, improve health outcomes, and helps to prepare nurses to develop successful strategies to enhance patient health. My expectation of obtaining this degree is to improve patient health, apply the best knowledge, follow and continue the evidence-based practice to deliver evidence-based care to all individuals in the clinical environment. I believe the program prepares me to be an advanced mental health nurse practitioner and provide quality care to the patients who are mentally challenged. Obtaining a doctorate degree, need a lot of effort and hard work and the degree will prepare the nurses to apply advanced knowledge for best practice. As I mentioned earlier, the doctoral degree mainly focuses on research, while doing research and learning new subjects/topics can improve knowledge and increase skills through writing, analysis, and reading, which will help nurses academically and professionally grow and prepare more productive in the health care system. Nurses have a lot of opportunities in this healthcare system to improve their careers. As mentioned earlier, DNP degree and their expectations, job descriptions are different and varies than a nurse with other specialties—for example, Master’s in nursing with specialties, Ph.D. in nursing, and MBA in Nursing. Nurse with Masters’s and a Ph.D. degree in nursing can practice as specialty nurses who can guide the patients and provide education about that particular specialty and works as in different roles; however, The DNP with specialized practitioners can prescribe medications or diagnose disease conditions. The DNP degree has a lot of potentials, focuses on improving organizational and leadership skills, and plays a vital role in a multi-provider practice.

My essential motive for pursuing the DNP degree is to Practice as an Advanced mental health Nurse practitioner and provide support, quality-based care to mentally challenged patients including provide accurate treatments and therapies. Also improve my leadership skills by earning high knowledge, treating patients, and providing quality-based care through evidence-based practice. Doctor Of Nursing Practice is an accredited program that prepares nurses and leaders to reach the top level and takes nurses to the highest level of nursing practice. The program’s main goal is to improve patient outcomes and helps the research study and plays a vital role in translating research into practice. Getting a DNP degree was my greatest dream when I graduated from nursing school years ago. We could make a better clinical environment by educating the patients, providing better treatments, diagnosing different disease conditions and treat according to that including the prevention and control of all common diseases.

Addressing a Gap in Practice and Implement a Practice Change

In clinical settings, a practice gap means a problem endures in practice and the opportunity for Improvement in knowledge and skill. Experts state that the professional gap is the difference between a desirable or achievable state of practice and current reality. I would like to elaborate on the gaps in the healthcare system by an example. As I mentioned, the gap creates a discrepancy between the quality of care provided to each patient and the existing recommended practices in clinical settings. For example, a patient at risk of developing cancer or having a family history fails to follow up, misses the recommended screenings such as mammograms, colonoscopies, etc. As a nurse manager working in a geriatric unit, I always make sure that the up to date follow ups and the appointments are maintain in a standard and correct way. We can address the gaps in healthcare through different ways. For example, by communication, such as provide awareness and education by using texting or calling technique to reduce gaps in healthcare settings thereby Improves patient knowledge, communication with technologies. As a Nurse manager, I always instruct the unit and educate about to re-schedule appointments in case if cancelled and provide awareness. As I mentioned earlier, a gap in practice is a discrepancy, especially when the patient doesn’t get the care they need. On the other hand, poor treatment and care, lack of education and knowledge also cause gaps in care. From my experience, I have seen a lot of incidents in healthcare settings, such as recurrent patient appointments or follow up being postponed or even canceled. And there are no follow-up appointments to reschedule; in this situation discrepancy continues and patients unable to get the care they need.

In other case, some patients are proactive; this also causes a gap in care. in order to close the gap in care, the first step I believe is, must collect more details about the patient by queries, asking for detailed information from each patient and documenting correctly in the system, and make a holistic patient profile so that if the patient engages the healthcare provider on next visit and the provider can find out the complete information about that particular patient. In another way, we could close the gap by scheduling appointments, doing follow-ups at the correct time, up-to-date yearly screenings, and providing education. Closing the gap is to maintain the patient’s health and well-being. In this discussion, I explained the role of a nurse with a practice doctorate and the expectations, motivation to pursue a DNP degree, and finally, about the gap in practice.

References

Sample Answer 3 for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

Higher education attainment has been associated with enhanced competency and knowledge within the specific field pursued by an individual. For instance, attainment of a doctoral degree is considered the highest attainment in every field, and therefore doctoral degree holders are expected to demonstrate a high degree of competence (Dos Santos & Lo, 2018). A DNP-prepared nurse is no exception and is expected of higher levels of knowledge and competency in patient care as compared to nurses without the DNP. This week’s discussion explores doctoral degrees and professional nursing practice. To accomplish the discussion, the role of a nurse with a practice doctorate and the associated expectations will be discussed. In addition, this discussion will explore how the consideration relates to my motivation to pursue a DNP and an experience with addressing practice change or gap in practice.

Role of a Nurse with a Practice Doctorate

DNP-prepared nurses have various advanced roles in the continuum of patient care. For instance, through the translation of quality improvement outcomes, and translation of evidence into clinical areas, and unique practice innovations, the DNP-prepared nurses create new knowledge (Trautman et al., 2018). The implication is that these nurses apply evidence-based research to systems and/or clinical settings for better health outcomes. They practice at the highest level of practice and formulate evidence-based strategies to optimize health and patient outcomes. In addition, DNP-prepared nurses also take executive and leadership positions in healthcare organizations to influence health policies, analyze cost-effective protocols, direct patient care, and coordinate quality improvement teams.

Expectations Associated With Obtaining DNP

DNP is the highest degree in nursing and is associated with various expectations. Those who have obtained the degree are expected to show high levels of skills in the care environment to effectively direct care and coordinate care teams. As opposed to PhDs holders who mainly focus on research, DNP is associated with improvement of patient care and population outcomes (Edwards et al., 2018). The implication is that these nurses with this degree have adequate skills for implementing evidence-based strategies to improve health outcomes for individual patients and the general population. Nurse practitioners who do not have a DNP offer specializations focusing on particular patient care aspects like a pediatric or family practitioner. This role differs from a DNP prepared nurse as they are expected to step up to more advanced roles that help shape the direction of healthcare organizations.

How The Considerations Relate to My Motivation to Pursue a DNP

Growing up, I have had a passion for seeing everyone lead a healthy life devoid of health complications. While doing my undergraduate degree, I realized that such goals cannot be achieved by solely focusing on what happens in the care environment but also what happens in the surroundings, such as policies and funding. One of my motivations to pursue a DNP is to get to executive and leadership positions where I can participate in effectively influencing healthcare policies and decisions. As such, the role of the DNP-prepared nurse resonates and relates well with my motivation. Translating research evidence into clinical practice also helps in improving patient outcomes (Trautman et al., 2018), which is among my motivations for pursuing a DNP. Indeed, with a higher degree, I believe I will accomplish such a goal more efficiently.

Among the top organization needs is to be leaders in providing improved patient care and enhance the patient experience. Improving the quality outcome to enhance patient experience requires that the healthcare organization addresses the quality gaps (Trautman et al., 2018). As such, my role as a DNP-prepared nurse will help in various ways to such effect. For instance, in assuming the leadership roles of leading and coordinating care teams, I will be able to effectively lead other nurses into a careful analysis of quality data, organizational standards, and government standards to identify gaps in practice. This will lead to a formulation of the most relevant and effective strategies to address such gaps and meet the goals. Besides, I will also be able to lead the organization into a literature search for evidence that can be translated into practice to address practice gaps or lead a practice change for patient quality improvement.

The experience I have Had With How our Organization addressed a Practice Change

Organizations usually strive to achieve the central aim of offering patient optimized and improved patient care. As such, organizations either undertake steps to implement a practice change or address a gap in practice (Yip et al., 2019). I have had experience with the implementation of practice change within an organization. In one of the healthcare organizations, I have worked. There was a year where the rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections were growing month after month. A decision was then made to explore initiatives to deal with the threatening growing rates of infection. One of the chosen strategies was using a protocol to evaluate patients and use the indwelling catheters only when it is a must and ensuring that the time of usage of the catheters by the patients be reduced to as minimum as possible. As such, nurses accomplished a comprehensive one-week training on the protocols. After the training, the catheter use rates reduced by 20% as nurses were able to avoid unnecessary catheterization. Coupled by minimizing the duration of catheter use, the rates of infection dropped by an impressive 47% by the second month due to the practice change.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the doctoral degree prepares individuals for greater and more advanced professional roles. DNP-prepared nurses have a special role to play in the care environment, one of which is translating evidence into practice for improved patient outcomes. This week’s discussion has covered the roles of a DNP-prepared nurse, expectations associated with DNP, and an experience with a practice change implementation.

References

Dos Santos, L. M., & Lo, H. F. (2018). The Development of Doctoral Degree Curriculum in England: Perspectives from Professional Doctoral Degree Graduates. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 13(6), n6. https://doi.org/10.22230/ijepl.2018v13n6a781.

Edwards, N. E., Coddington, J., Erler, C., & Kirkpatrick, J. (2018). The Impact of the Role of Doctor of Nursing PracticeNurses on Healthcare and Leadership. Medical Research Archives, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v6i4.1734

Trautman, D. E., Idzik, S., Hammersla, M., & Rosseter, R. (2018). Advancing scholarship through translational research: The role of PhD and DNP prepared nurses. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(2). DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No02Man02.

Yip, W., Fu, H., Chen, A. T., Zhai, T., Jian, W., Xu, R., … & Chen, W. (2019). 10 years of healthcare reform in China: progress and gaps in universal health coverage. The Lancet, 394(10204), 1192-1204. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32136-1

Sample Answer 4 for NURS 8002 Week 4: THE DOCTORAL DEGREE AND PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE

I found your post the likable one at that. From the exposition to the main subject-topic discussion, you offered a concise treatment of the DNP degree, stressing its relevance to healthcare development, patients’ experience, and its capacity to build to prepare nurses for leadership and social change influencer roles. I do agree with you that DNP-prepared nurses would be able to identify grey areas in the care practice nuances with a specific focus on reducing the cost of accessing healthcare for the patient populations. Despite their multidisciplinary roles in topical healthcare settings, DNP nurses also play significant roles in academic environments by training, modeling, and inspiring future nurse leaders. They help provide educational curricula input directions for the healthcare training institutes, focusing on future care needs to meet up as the patient dynamics evolve Graves et al. (2021b).

Besides, you also discuss, in-depth, the healthcare sector’s sky-bound expectations in the DNP degree, buttressing its industrial application as an element of a paradigm shift in the level at which nurse ought to have become competent research and evidence-based nursing scientists. The expectations correlate with the government’s intention to increase the camp of nurse scientists and advance nursing practice in the care setting targeting the increasing pressure for competent and evidence-based practicing nurses. According to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the critical care competency gap calls for an upgrade in the cognitive competence of future nurses if the patient experience must be met and improved Ketefian and Redman (2015).

Of particular interest is the mention of the bipolar disorder patient’s scenario in the post. Managing GAD/MDD patients can be challenging, especially when violent behavior is involved. I have not worked in any psychiatric environment, but I would like to study the association between violence and mental disorder incidences. Above all, your work is informative, engaging, and clinically delivered. Thank you.

References

Graves, L. Y., Tamez, P. A., Wallen, G. R., & Saligan, L. N. (2021a). Defining the role of individuals prepared as a doctor of nurse practice in symptoms science research. Nursing Outlook, 69(4), 542–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.01.013Links to an external site.

Graves, L. Y., Tamez, P. A., Wallen, G. R., & Saligan, L. N. (2021b). Defining the role of individuals prepared as a doctor of nurse practice in symptoms science research. Nursing Outlook, 69(4), 542–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.01.013Links to an external site.

Ketefian, S., & Redman, R. W. (2015). A critical examination of developments in nursing doctoral education in the United States. Revista Latino-americana De Enfermagem, 23(3), 363–371. https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-1169.0797.2566Links to an external site.

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