The Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse

The complexity of the contemporary healthcare environment has significantly changed and the role of nurses has also continued to change due to increased technology advancement. The access to healthcare delivery and nurses offering these services are changing rapidly due to increased demanding needs; therefore, each state is attempting to deal with these increasing healthcare changes through expanding and advancing the roles of nurses. Educators are now required to offer effective training services to graduates in order to prepare them with clear understanding of the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) roles. APN refers as the nursing interventions that influence healthcare outcomes such as care management, nursing administration, direct clinical care of individual patients and development of healthcare policies (Hamric and Hanson, 2003). Understanding APN roles, professional and regulatory issues will enable nurses to make reasonable transition in the healthcare market. Educators should employ effective approaches for building APN role content into graduate course units since this can enable nurses to their intended goals effectively. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to offer clear analysis of the roles being played by advanced practice nurses in the contemporary healthcare market.

Core APN competencies
    The core competencies for APN nursing roles arise from role requirements, nursing regulations, nursing principles and practices, as well as, professional behavior standards necessary to offer competent, ethical and safe care. These core competencies offer the basis through which practitioners, human resource managers and educators can determine the acceptance level necessary for practicing in APN role in a certain situational context. The core competences address two significant elements including the professional development and the clinical practice both of which are significant for the APN role to attain the acceptable nursing standards and practices.

a)    Clinical Practice Competencies
Practice core competencies are among the significant APN roles and this includes participating in direct patient care. This is an essential part of clinical practice because it adequately fulfills the role of nursing practitioner. Hamric and Hanson (2003) argue that direct clinical practice is one of the central competencies for APN because it informs and offers a foundation for which to build pillars for expert coaching. It also provides a basis for collaboration, research and ethical decision making vital for meeting the demanding needs of patients.  Scholars have attempted to examine critical roles played by APN and the way these roles have tremendously changed in the contemporary healthcare market (Hamric and Hanson, 2003). The authors also attempts to offer clear and comprehensive roles of APN nurses in the contemporary society. Nurses employ applicable counseling, interpersonal skills and valuable communication skills; thus they initiate therapeutic relationships. They also work in collaboration with other healthcare professions and employ effective ethical standards in order to meet the demanding needs of their clients.

b)    Professional Development Competencies
The professional development competencies are also significant APN roles because they help individuals to accomplish and maintain the level of proficiencies necessary to practice. They focus on the role of individuals in self governance of their occupation practice and personal development. According to Hamric and Hanson (2003), professional role development takes into considerations the theoretical principles and norms within the specialty practice area for nursing graduates. The content in professional role development should offer the graduate with clear understandings of nursing profession, regulations, necessary requirements for nurses and APN roles (Hamric and Hanson, 2003). The purpose of profession development is to organize professionally graduates and promote APN role through the refinement of measurable competency criteria; thus contributing to improved healthcare. It also contributes to an innovative knowledge and practice advancement vital for maintaining technological advancement in nursing practices.
APN Outcome Research Study and Proposed Alternative Outcomes That Measure the APN’s Unique Contribution
The APN outcome research focuses on the end results of studying APN roles vital for creating significant change in the healthcare sector. It is clear that the APN works within the healthcare environment context, which requires valuable knowledge and skills beyond clinical nursing capability. These dimensions also include effective healthcare management and employing effective nursing standards vital for achieving the demanding needs or goals of APN roles. Hamric and Hanson in their article of educating APN nurses for practice reality attempt to examine the way the contemporary healthcare environment has significantly changed ; thus the role of nurses has also continued to change in order to meet the demanding needs of patient effectively (Hamric and Hanson, 2003).
The proposed outcomes that measure the unique contribution of APN are based on the proposed theory of quality healthcare provision. Educators may face varied challenges as they struggle to prepare sufficient number of APN registered nurses, but employing effective teaching strategies such as intensive inter-professional collaborations can contribute to better outcomes (Fitzgerald, Kantrowitz-Gordon, Katz and Hirsch, 2012). The professional preparation of the APN roles has its foundation in education institutions, which are recognized by accredited bodies for specific state or international communities. Hamric and Hanson (2003), argue that the increased knowledge and sophistication of healthcare has resulted in the growth of specialization in nursing in order to increase competence level in complex areas of nursing practice. The researchers further indicates that the reality of the growth of specialization in nursing practice is to ensure that nurses improves or advances their roles and also acquire requisite knowledge for enacting these roles.
Outcome Plan for an Individual Patient or a Group Problem Appropriate To an APN Level of Practice
    The APN would first carry out assessment process and this will include observing and evaluating development history of the patient.  APN nurses are qualified social workers; thus they employ effective assessment plan in order to examine the condition of the patient. After close examination for the patient, the APN nurse will carry out therapeutic interventions and this will involve employing effective intervention approach in order to produce better outcomes of the patient.  The treatment or intervention measure employed will include use of collaborative intervention approach. This approach is vital in care planning because it improves medical adherence and care services provided to the patient.  Therefore, the intervention or treatment would differ from that of physician because the intervention measure would employ collaborative approach. The research study reveals that the care outcomes provided by APN nurses are far much better than that of physicians (Hamric and Hanson, 2003). This is because the APN care employs effective intervention approaches, it is also cost effective and safe; thus it produces high level of patient satisfaction.

Discussion of the Outcome Plan
 From the outcome plan, it can be argued that APN nurses play significant and effective roles in the contemporary healthcare environment. This is because they carry out effective assessment process, which is one of the first steps of diagnosis process. They also employ efficient intervention strategy such as the use of collaborative approach in care planning. Fitzgerald et.al 2012) finds collaborative care planning one of the most effective intervention approaches for improving medical adherence of the patients; thereby, contributing to high satisfaction level to patients. The APN practices entails cognitive, technical abilities of qualified nurses all of which are put into ethical and culturally safe practices, acts and protocols; thereby producing better patient outcomes.

Summary
In summary, the purpose of the research was to provide a clear analysis of the roles being played by advanced practice nurses in the contemporary healthcare market. The research provided succinct setting information revealing the intention of the study. It identified the core competencies for advanced practice nurses and this is where the two key core competencies of APN including the clinical practices and professional role development competencies wee analyzed. The researcher provided a summarized APN outcome and proposed also an alternative result measures for the exclusive contribution of APN. The research paper developed outcome plan, which included carrying out assessment process and employing collaborative intervention approach. The research study revealed that the care outcomes provided by APN nurses are far much better than that of physicians. Lastly, a concise discussion about the outcome plan was included in the research study.