The scope of practice outlines services qualified health practitioner is considered capable to perform and is permitted to take on as per the terms in the professional license. This statement describes people who constitute the nursing practice, what they do, where to practice, timing, and reasons why. My specialty is a family nurse practitioner (FNP), and with it, I can expand my clinical capabilities to be a great health resource in my community. With it, I can be a primary care provider to make decisions that have an impact on the well-being of patients. FNPs are a constituent of advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) and must be educated, titled, and sustain active licensure as a requirement to practice nursing. This specialty is concerned with protecting, promoting, and optimizing health, preventing sicknesses and injury, easing healing, lessening suffering through diagnosis and treatment advocacy during care. The practice is done wherever care is needed and whenever there is a necessity for nursing knowledge and expertise. The profession aims to achieve positive outcomes in patients per society obligation and nursing social contract.
As a family nursing practitioner, one can be independent after they have a signed protocol with a doctor. FNPs can practice independently and have their practices without the need for the physical presence during service. The signed protocol outlines the duties FNPs are permitted to perform with the level of supervision required. We as FNPs can be primary care providers (PCP) when in association with a supervising doctor (Ritter et al., 2020). There is no referral required from another source to administer treatment to patients since both chronic and acute conditions can be handled by a primary care provider. Treatment and coordination of extra care are under the duties of PCPs. Family nurse practitioners work with patients of all levels by performing examinations, prescriptions and creating treatment plans. They offer primary care at all stages in cooperation with other healthcare teams and may treat serious illnesses on top of prioritizing preventive care. This field needs one to be skilled in effective communication, critical thinking, collaboration, diagnosis of patients, ethical decision making, and creation of care plans. FNPs can work in hospitals, emergency rooms, or just any healthcare facility.
FNPs receive extensive training to offer a variety of care to patients as compared to registered nurses. In this specialty, there is the diagnosis of patients, ordering and interpretation of tests, prescription of medication and patient care. The prescriptive ability is dependent on the relationship with the supervising doctor. The scope concerning initiation, change, and end of prescription of drugs is based on individual agreements. Nurse practitioners can prescribe medications to patients since there are specific prescriptions to be conducted by a physician in that exact field as outlined in the protocol. The expansion of skill sets can increase the impact on a FNP in the community and boost the health and wellbeing of residents.
Role delineation of a FNP describes the responsibilities and functions to be performed by the worker. The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) has requirements and competencies that every nurse practitioner needs to know since they apply to all regardless of specialty (Ritter et al., 2020). FNPs need to study each of the areas outlined to understand specific objectives of every subdivision to demonstrate for graduation purposes. I will achieve evidence-based practice by critically thinking about data and applying the evidence to improve practice. For knowledge and understanding practice rules as a core competence, I will allow information from other disciplines to inform my work in nursing. Translation research can be achieved through incorporating research findings to improve patient outcomes and practice procedures.
I plan to implement my professional role of managing patient illness and health status using various mechanisms. I intend to reflect materials with information on how to conduct checks wells, administer treatments, screen for symptoms, and order tests. This will enable me to enhance the overall wellbeing of the patient since I will be treating healthy and injured patients, those with viral symptoms and other chronic ailments. I will read on essential preventive care services to help in reducing repeat visits and hospital admissions. This will enrich me with information on how to counsel patients to prevent diseases through healthy living while ensuring that they adhere to treatment recommendations.
I plan on reflecting on the assignments I had done concerning the establishment of continuous office procedures and developing personalized care plans for patience for excellence and efficiency during practice. This will enable me to record health histories for patients, conduct physical examinations, observe and evaluate their symptoms, order tests, then examine outcomes. From there, I will then be able to diagnose their health conditions, develop treatment plans, recommend medications, track any changes in symptoms and their response to treatment, and promote healthy lifestyles, among other things. This will help me to be excellent in my practice, and I will be able to provide quality patient outcomes.
Reference
Ritter, A. Z., Bowles, K. H., O’Sullivan, A., Gilman, D., & Fairman, J. A. (2020). Nurse practitioner state-required collaborative practice agreements: A cross-sectional case study in Florida. Nursing Economic$, 38(4), 185-193
