APN Professional Development Plan

Question

APN Professional Development Plan

Introduction

APN is an abbreviation for Advanced Professional Nurse. The APNs are certified and registered nurses with higher education and training in nursing as primary caregivers. Their training involves providing quality services that are patient care centered as corresponding professionals. APNs are vital in the given field due to the overwhelming need for primary caregivers. The APNs, therefore, contribute greatly to the patient care services required.

Consequently, nursing education should attract more students as well as ensure that this occupation is lucrative and that there is no increased demand for APN specialists. This strategy will eliminate the problem of few APNs professionals in the future (Joel, 2013).

Professional Development Plan (PDP)

A professional development plan (PDP) is an important tool used in exploring various occupations, such as nursing. An APN professional development plan is, therefore, a method established by the nurse practitioners to review their performances and assess their capabilities. They are usually created after a self-evaluation process and upon acquiring feedback from peer-reviewed activities. These are developmental activities, which are aimed at forming a comprehensive APN professional development plan for a practitioner. The practitioners use the PDP to meditate upon the performances, in which they participate, as well as to understand their professional requirements and scope. PDP provides grounds for self-understanding through a self-evaluation process.

Nurse practitioners who understand themselves can highlight easily their point of weakness as well as their sources of success with ease. This critical self-evaluation of a practitioner through the PDP provides career satisfaction in the nursing profession. APNs can, therefore, perform their activities in compliance with the requirements of their profession. The establishment of a PDP equally provides a solution to someone’s career development, for example, the APNs. It stimulates the manifestation of outstanding skills possessed by nurse practitioners. For this reason, the APNs should develop a PDP to ensure quality patient care provision (Joel, 2013).

APN Scope of Practice

The scope of the nurse practitioner scope outlines their job descriptions and capabilities after registration, certification, and licensure. Therefore, it defines the activities involved and the professionals who perform them in their job. The scope of practice is addressed considering the number of patients handled concerning the services provided in health care. The monetary values associated with this practice, as well as the challenges faced, are equally mentioned with recommended solutions. The scope of this profession explores the cognitive, integrative, and technical capabilities of nurse practitioners.

These capabilities are evident in their ethical, safe, as well as practice guidelines and regulations. The APN practices are scientific and applicable to health care in diverse dimensions such as primary, secondary, and tertiary caregivers. According to the job descriptions, their obligations include patient and peer empowering and clinical management through leadership. The APN fulfills these to ensure the achievement of the nursing profession objectives (DeNisco & Barker, 2015).

APNs should possess both clinical and professional core competencies to be able to accomplish their roles upon completion of their training. For clinical core competencies, the APN must be able to exhibit competencies in laboratory investigations of the respective disease. Through teamwork, they can control and arrange the treatment of patients in healthcare. They should also establish, treat, and administer medication to ill people. Finally, APNs should use their profession to provide a clinically based judgment among other clinical competencies.

Similarly, one expects them to show their professional competencies. In this case, the nurse practitioners should provide their research and incorporate evidence-based approaches in their profession. They should be mentors and advocates for the nurses and patients respectively. This professional competency enables the enhancement of quality care provision. Therefore, the nurse practitioners must be caregivers, qualified researchers, consultants as well as administrators (DeNisco & Barker, 2015).

Currently, this profession has expanded in its educational training. Therefore, the relevant requirements for the nurses include acute, episodic, and chronic treatment with diagnosis expertise. Due to this professionalism, nurses can work independently or engage in collaborative work nursing. There are advanced activities that should be executed by nurses such as assessment, plan evaluation, and implementation. Moreover, the relevant governmental agencies supervise and control their quality standard care. These agencies include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the certifying and licensing boards (DeNisco & Barker, 2015).

Some laws and policies govern the scope of practice. The Nursing Practice Act outlines the legal requirements for the nurses in their profession. In this Act, nurse practitioners are allowed to engage in medical practices that involve primary care health services. For example, they have been given the authority to execute emergency treatment in healthcare centers. The Board of Registered Nursing certifies the registered nurses in the State, where they then register in their line of specialization. In the case of verified certification, the nurses in some states, such as California, must obtain a master's degree in clinical and nursing with a respective degree in nursing (Buppert, 2015).

Geographical laws and policies governing nurses are specific to each State. The nurses, therefore, use the interactive map for their licensure and regulatory specification in each nursing environment. Consequently, different environments have different laws and policies governing the practice (DeNisco & Barker, 2015).

Personal Assessment

Strengths exhibited as an APN vary due to the scope of the practice. For example, the nurses use integrative skills, such as informative knowledge, ethical values, and clinical proficiencies in their profession. It is vital to mobilize the practitioners who will provide quality patient services in their area of specialization. Similarly, it is important to employ research and evidence-based methodologies to improve nursing as a profession.

One should apply both scientific and theory-based arguments to impact health care through the provision of quality leadership in nursing. Finally, it is useful to utilize health policies regarding the profession and environment to improve healthcare and continuous skill advancement in the given profession based on practice (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015).

However, there are weaknesses experienced in the nursing occupation due to specialization and inadequate practice in all areas of the corresponding requirements leading to professional inclination. Therefore, they demonstrate proficiency only in several areas engaged in frequent practice. The overwhelming number of patients causing a huge workload reduces the quality of the service provision. Collaborative work in the areas, which lack professionals, causes uncertainties in the quality of patient care services (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015).

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It is worth noting that APNs should follow personal goals and objectives, which include portraying leadership skills to improve the APN practices both locally and internationally in the area of specialization. it is necessary to enhance knowledge at the undergraduate level of education by promoting polished skills. They should also demonstrate proficiency in providing informative ideas in nursing and health care, which improves quality.

Upon completion of the course, it is important to prepare the learners as APNs teaching them their expected activities as practitioners. The applicants must portray moral and intellectual capabilities, which are necessary for accomplishing the curriculum requirements for APN nursing. To finalize, the exhibition holistic, evidence-based nursing practice as an APN is necessary (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015).

Due to the lucrative nature of the given profession, there are several job opportunities and organizations to absorb APNs. Similarly, demand for APNs in healthcare has availed opportunities due to the huge number of patients against a few certified nurses. Most networking and marketing organizations have provided financial incentives to fund APN researchers (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015).

Networking and Marketing Strategies

Networking among APNs is vital to inform the practitioners of the occurring events in their environment and professional dynamics. The networking process provides nurses with information about the scope of their practice and trending issues. Networking can be formal or informal depending on the procedural steps involved. Formal networking involves coalitions and committees formed by APNs across geographical areas to share the strategies for common activities and resources in their respective organizations. This form of networking is instrumental in opening new employment opportunities in different nursing organizations as well as enhancing nursing competencies. Informal networking is used among professionals who speak common local dialects. This type of networking is usually not constructive as compared to the formal one (Buppert, 2015).

It helps the practitioners to establish successful businesses, solutions, and recommendations required for their professional activities. This process is possible through the provision of interactive businesses, technical, and other essential support provided by these organizations. For example, the nurse networking program for the APNs ensures this essential assistance to enlarge their scope and provide quality patient services in the given profession. In technical networking, there are training-based programs used to enhance the technical knowledge of nurse practitioners as consulting partners. As technology partners, however, integration of software techniques is availed, which equips practitioners with the expertise to face the technologically empowered world. These technologies include independent software vendors (Buppert, 2015).

Marketing is the establishment of a constructive relationship between potential customers and a business entity. To obtain respect for achievement or accomplishment in the nursing profession, marketing must be part of the activities. It is necessary to consider some important aspects of influential marketing such as clinical competencies, leadership, teamwork, and business skills. For independent practices marketing and contracting are necessary. APN portfolios ensure the establishment of venues for a competitive market. In this case, graduates expose and market themselves to secure opportunities in healthcare organizations. Experienced APNs can market their businesses through health care providers and interested communities or populations (Buppert, 2015).

Marketing in nursing involved five-Ps, such as product, price, place, partnership, and promotion. The products in the nursing profession are the patient care services and the nurses, for example, the APNs. Some of the products that the APNs provide include healthcare, health fairs, clinics, health facilities, educative information, etc. The practitioners should ensure quality products to attract potential customers. The products simply penetrate the market. The price involves money given for the product availed for APNs, hence availing the cost-effective products for integrity. Cost-effective pricing promotes the fast movement of the products. Most customers will attend health care centers providing their products at an affordable price (Buppert, 2015).

The place is essential to provide product accessibility; currently, the place can be real or virtual due to the respective technology. In a nursing setting, it includes hospitals, clinics, seminars, or a practitioner’s office. The partnership involves networking with other professionals and organizations for empowerment. In partnership, collaborative work is necessary to provide a consumer-centered quality service. Finally, promotion involves the sequential activities used to convey the value of the required product. The practitioners should create awareness regarding the products they provide to enlighten and educate potential consumers. Comprehending the detailed information as a nurse practitioner demonstrates how to market their profession (Buppert, 2015).

Some of the known networking and marketing organizations for the practitioners include the NP Associates for Continuing Education, Greater Memphis Area Advanced Nurse Practitioners, and Polk County Advanced Practice Nurses Association (Buppert, 2015).

Curriculum Vitae (for BSN, RN)

1. Education.
2. Licensure and Credentialing.
3. Certifications and Proficiencies.
4. Experience.
5. Skills Garnered.
6. Awards and Honors.
7. Academic and Professional Activities.

Conclusion

The establishment of an APN Professional Development Plan provides a solution to the improvement in nursing. It stimulates the manifestation of the outstanding skills and capabilities possessed by the nurse practitioners by exposing their weak areas. For this reason, the APNs should develop a Professional Development Plan to ensure quality patient care provision. Similarly, networking among APNs is vital to inform the practitioners of the professional improvements and scope of the practice. Marketing, however, establishes a constructive relationship between potential customers and a business entity.

To obtain respect for the achievement or accomplishment in the profession, marketing must be part of the APN practices. Proficiency in this profession is present in both clinical and professional competencies. For example, intelligent laboratory disease investigations, assessment, and diagnosis are clinical competencies. Equally, control and arrangement for the treatment of patients in health care through collaborative work are not exempt. It is possible to use the professional competencies to provide a clinically based judgment among other clinical competencies as well as to enhance the quality of patient care.

The professional competencies are equally evident in the provision of research and evidence-based approaches in the profession when handling patients. This is possible to establish only through an APN Professional Development Plan.