APN Professional Development Plan
Introduction
A professional development plan is a continuous documentation of new knowledge, ideas, and skills related to the professional, academic, and personal achievement as a nursing student/nurse (Johnson & Smith, 2018). The key aim of a professional development plan (PDP) is to document the required goals, skills, and objectives essential to fulfill the personal, educational, and professional goals. Nurse practitioners particularly need a professional development plan to record their goals, as well as identify any challenges one may encounter in their career (Johnson & Smith, 2018). It is important for an APRN to understand the state they intend to practice, as well as the educational, licensure, and regulatory requirements when developing a PDP. Therefore, a professional development plan can make it easier to handle the challenges. This development plan will involve analyzing the regulations, along with the scope of practice for a nurse practitioner, discuss the core competencies of a nurse practitioner (NP), as well as the essential leadership skills for an NP. APN Professional Development Plan
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APN Scope of Practice
Each state has requirements and guidelines for accreditation, licensure, certification, as well as educational requirements known as LACE. The APRN is supposed to adhere to these guidelines and requirements in the state one practices. Different states have different LACE requirements, as well as the allowed autonomy of the APRN (Hu & Forgeron, 2018). In most states, an NP applicant is supposed to have a valid and current RN license, have a nurse specialty area from a post master’s program or a master’s degree, have completed a minimum of the appropriate clinical hours, and have a national advanced practice certification form a valid and authorized nursing specialty board (Hu & Forgeron, 2018). Each state sets the nursing regulations and practice laws.
According to Hu & Forgeron (2018), there are three levels at which an APRN can practice and they include full practice, restricted practice, and reduced practice. Full practice means that an APRN has the full scope of practice and works under the authority of the nursing board in their state. An APRN working in a state that permits NPs to have a full scope of practice can assess and evaluate patients, make diagnoses, develop and manage treatment plans, order diagnostic and laboratory testing, interpret the lab and diagnostic findings, and perform prescribing of medications (Ortiz et al., 2018). The Institute of Medicine and National Council of State Boards of Nursing recommend a full practice for APRNs. On the other hand, reduced practice refers to the state reducing the ability of a nurse practitioner to practice by at least one component. In states that allow the reduced practice, the APRN is supposed to have a collaborative agreement with a physician before practicing. The restricted practice involves the state limiting the APRN in at least one component of practice and requiring supervision, delegation, or/and collaboration with a physician before one is allowed to practice. An APRN is supposed to choose a specific area of specialty one wants to venture into and understand the appropriate resources required by the scope.
After graduation, I intend to practice in the Florida state. Florida allows nurse practitioners to conduct medical acts of diagnosis, treatment, and operate in collaboration with a Florida-licensed medical doctor, dentist, or an osteopathic physician. An agreement is supposed to be signed delineating the professional agreement between the NP and the physician (Peterson, 2017). The agreement should include the information of both the NP and the physician, the practice information, an outline of the NP’s duties for example the procedures the NP is allowed to perform, conditions for which the NP is authorized to treat and manage patients, the drugs the NP can prescribe, circumstances and situations the NP is supposed to contact the physician. Currently, nurse practitioners within Florida do not have full authority to sign a death certificate, sign Baker Act, certify DRN order, and are not acknowledged by Medicaid and Medicare as primary care providers (Peterson, 2017).
An NP is supposed to undergo a certification process that illustrates that one understands the practices and obligations in the practice area. The next step is to register with the state Board prescriptive authority. Only after registering with the Board prescriptive authority is an NP allowed to prescribe drugs to patients. The registration procedures differ from one state to another in terms of the application process and the prescribing laws (Hu & Forgeron, 2018). For the registration to be accepted and an NP given permission to prescribe, an NP is supposed to have completed advanced pharmacology. In an event the NP is supposed to acquire more knowledge on pharmacology, one can meet the knowledge requirements through continuing education. To register with the board prescriptive authority, an NP is supposed to pay the necessary fee, fill the application form, and possess the required pharmacology education.
Moreover, an NP should understand the necessary standards of practice in certification and licensing. This is supported by Hu & Forgeron (2018) who explain that in the nursing profession, an NP needs to understand that all the relevant clinical practices should be adhered to during care provision. National standards outline the specific standards that should be followed during practice in specific settings like ambulation settings, long-term, and acute-term care facilities. These care standards entail the evaluation plan, implementation plan, development of treatment strategies, assessment, and diagnosis. An NP needs to understand the compliance and adherence to these standards are monitored and supervised by several authoritative agencies/bodies (Ortiz et al., 2018). These agencies/bodies consist of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the National Committee of Quality Assurance, and the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.APN Professional Development Plan
Nurse Practitioner (NONPF) Core Competencies
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) outlines the key competencies required for each NP. The areas of core competence defined by the NONPF include scientific foundations, quality, leadership, practice inquiry, policy, technology and information literacy, ethics, health delivery system, and independent practice (Honig et al., 2019).
The key competencies that are my strength include the scientific foundation’s competencies and leadership competencies. For the scientific foundation competencies, NP students are supposed to understand and be knowledgeable about medical sciences. All NP students should take pharmacology and pathophysiology courses, although some specialties may require additional courses (Honig et al., 2019). For example, a PMHNP normally undertakes neuroscience courses while neonatal NP students undertake neonatology courses. As an NP student, I have undertaken courses that further inform and inform my knowledge of medical sciences. I am competent evidence-based practice, being knowledgeable about the clinical practice guidelines, and translational research. For example, I can competently conduct research using journal articles and other sources of evidence to improve care practices in the healthcare organizations I work in.
For the leadership competencies, NP students are supposed to acquire effective leadership skills, collaborate effectively, steer changes such as quality improvement programs in healthcare organizations, use reflective and critical thinking when making leadership decisions, have effective communication skills, and advocate for quality and affordance healthcare (Chan et al., 2020). Personally, I believe I have the required skills to lead in various leadership aspects. For example, I have led various teams both as a student and as a practicing nurse practitioner. I can collaborate effectively with my peers, colleagues, and members of a multidisciplinary team. I also believe I possess excellent communication skills, which are essential for a leader.
The two competency areas I have growth opportunities include quality competencies and practice inquiry competencies. Quality competencies require NP students should be competent in the use of information databases and the use of research findings to improve the quality of care. additionally, NP students should be able to promote a culture of excellence during care provision and facilitate the provision of patient-centered care (Chan et al., 2020). I believe that I need to learn how to utilize information databases and use research findings to improve patient safety and quality of care. I will learn to improve this competency by observing how experienced nurse practitioners utilize health and medical databases to locate the latest evidence to improve care (Starkweather et al., 2017). I also plan to collaborate with nurse informatics to learn how to use the information databases and information systems to improve care. Practice inquiry competencies require NP students to be competent in translating research findings into practice. NP students should use the research findings to improve the health outcomes of patients. NP students should also steer the use of the new knowledge into practice, for example by leading implementation of quality improvement programs in healthcare organizations. As an NP student, I believe that I will improve on practice inquiry competencies by learning how to use technologies to manage information, use technology during care delivery, and use the technologies to facilitate care evaluation (Starkweather et al., 2017). This is an area I need to improve because I believe practice inquiry is the cornerstone to improving the quality of care and enhancing patient safety.
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The scholarly activities I intend to do to help me attain the NP competencies include participating in educational opportunities that improve my knowledge and skills in various competencies. This will include participating in the additional courses required for my specialty. Similarly, I plan to actively take part in research about all the NONPF competencies in order to gain more knowledge about them. I will also participate in online courses that shed more light on these competencies. This will ensure that by the end of my training as an NP, I will be competent and knowledgeable about all NONPF core competencies.APN Professional Development Plan
Leadership Skills
Nurse practitioners possess the expert level of knowledge, clinical competencies, and the ability to make decisions within the complex healthcare system. The appropriate leadership skills for an NP include decision-making ability, appropriate delegation, acting with integrity, and conflict resolution (O’Rourke & Higuchi, 2016). Decision making for NPs necessitates critical thinking skills. Nurse practitioners are trained to analyze clinical scenarios and outcomes during decision making. NPs should use the decision tree to assess the various course of actions and recognize when to involve others during the decision-making process. NPs often take supervisory roles and oversee and direct other clinical professionals during care provision. Therefore, NPs need to have the appropriate leadership skills to delegate tasks according to the abilities and preferences of the team members (Lamb et al., 2018). Skilled NPs should focus on shared goals and in case of a conflict, one should remain solution-oriented and collaborate with others to address conflicts. Finally, a NP needs to act with integrity all the time since integrity is an important aspect for trustworthy leaders. NPs should always follow the highest ethical and professional standards and also comply with the relevant safety, legal and regulatory standards (O’Rourke & Higuchi, 2016).
Strategies that could help an NP develop leadership skills include participating in leadership courses. Leadership courses can provide an NP with opportunities to learn and acquire leadership knowledge and skills. Therefore, I plan to engage in online leadership training courses and also participate in leadership training within the organization I work in. Secondly, I plan to learn leadership skills from my mentor and other experienced nurse practitioners. This means that I will let experienced NPs and other leaders in the organization I work in to model the appropriate leadership behaviors.
Conclusion
A nurse practitioner needs to be a self-regulated learner who conducts self-evaluation, self-observation, and self-reaction often for improvement. During self-assessment, an NP student should identify elements that are relevant to the master’s nursing program contributing to the academic performance. NPs are supposed to practice according to the allowed scope of practice in their state. The state of Florida allows NPs to have a restricted scope of practice where they should practice under the supervision of a physician. The NONPF core competencies outline the key competencies required for each NP and NP students should ensure aptitude in all the core competencies. A professional development plan is vital to enable an NP to have a clear outline regarding the needs and the requirements essential to practice ethically, attain employment, and maintain a good professional reputation.APN Professional Development Plan
References
Chan, T. E., Lockhart, J. S., Schreiber, J. B., & Kronk, R. (2020). Determining nurse practitioner core competencies using a Delphi approach. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 32(3), 200-217.
Honig, J., Doyle-Lindrud, S., & Dohrn, J. (2019). Moving towards universal health coverage: advanced practice nurse competencies. Avançando na direção de cobertura universal de saúde: competências de enfermeiros de práticas avançadas. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 27, e3132. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.2901.3132
Hu, J., & Forgeron, P. (2018). Thinking, educating, acting: Developing advanced practice nursing. International journal of nursing sciences, 5(2), 99–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.04.006.
Johnson, C. S., & Smith, C. M. (2018). Preparing Nursing Professional Development Practitioners in Their Leadership Role: Management and Leadership Skills. Journal for nurses in professional development, 34(2), 99-100.
Lamb, A., Martin‐Misener, R., Bryant‐Lukosius, D., & Latimer, M. (2018). Describing the leadership capabilities of advanced practice nurses using a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing Open, 5(3), 400-413.
Ortiz, J., Hofler, R., Bushy, A., Lin, Y. L., Khanijahani, A., & Bitney, A. (2018). Impact of Nurse Practitioner Practice Regulations on Rural Population Health Outcomes. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 6(2), 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6020065.
O’Rourke, T., & Higuchi, K. S. (2016). Activities and Attributes of Nurse Practitioner Leaders: Lessons from a Primary Care System Change. Nursing Leadership (Toronto, Ont.), 29(3), 46-60.
Peterson M. E. (2017). Barriers to Practice and the Impact on Health Care: A Nurse Practitioner Focus. Journal of the advanced practitioner in oncology, 8(1), 74–81.
Starkweather, A., Sargent, L., Nye, C., Albrecht, T., Cloutier, R., & Foster, A. (2017). Progressive Assessment and Competency Evaluation Framework for Integrating Simulation in Nurse Practitioner Education. The journal for nurse practitioners: JNP, 13(7), e301–e310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2017.04.012
APN Professional Development Plan