Advanced Nursing Development
A "master's education is achieving notable goals, including the development of refined analytical skills, broad-based perspectives, enhanced abilities to articulate viewpoints and positions, clearer ability to connect theory to practice, and enhanced skills in a specific profession" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2012, p 2). An advanced practice nurse embodies a wide number of various roles. They must inspire, protect, advocate, and perform, all within one shift. It is clear that a nurse leader must serve a wide number of roles all which are necessary for providing for the best quality of care for the patients in need.
One of the nurse leader's roles is to be an advocate for the nursing profession. This is their primary societal role. As such, nursing leaders need to be active within the social sphere as a way to increase overall knowledge regarding healthcare practices, but also the trends and theories which will lead to future positive advances in nursing practice if conditioned correctly. Advanced nursing practice plays a very varied role within contemporary healthcare practice. Since a student of advanced nursing is exposed to the latest and premiere concepts within nursing practice, they can become essential motivators for change. Nursing leaders help drive progressive change within contemporary nursing practice today. When situations begin to cause a stagnation of nursing practice, it is the nursing leader, educated with an advanced nursing context, who then becomes the advocate for change and helps lead the way to methods that will provide for a better future. Not only does the nursing leader need to stand as a general advocate for change from a nursing perspective, they must internalize consumer needs as a way to better serve and provide for the wide variety of patients they encounter. As such, they truly embody the role of a "change advocate within the healthcare system" (American Association of Colleges...
Thus, the nursing leader is not only a caretaker, but an advocate for better care practices.
Moreover, this role embodies a responsibility to furthering the progress of professional activities. The lead nurse is the sole person responsible for an entire team. They must adhere to a professional code in order to provide for the best quality of care for their patients. This means strictly following the standards of contemporary healthcare guidelines. Keeping up a level of professionalism is essential in order to protect the overall health of the patients under their charge, but also to help better train the lower level burses that are under their guidance. Adhering to the utmost professional guidelines thus proves an essential part of the nursing leader's role.
Another one of the nurse leader's role in maintaining continued competence within the profession. Not only should a nursing leader adhere to the guidelines of the profession, but they must strive to get them and their team to advance to a superior level of nursing care. One cannot best serve the patients through simply following the minimum guidelines. As such, it is important for the nursing leader to keep up-to-date with the leading healthcare research and be able to provide innovative solutions to modern healthcare issues so that their nursing staff can exceed overall expectations. The nursing leader's goal is not just to survive within the healthcare field, but to excel. As such, a strong commitment to adopting innovative techniques and practices helps keep the staff relevant and progressive. One of the biggest roles the nursing leader embodies is to not let the nursing staff fall into a situation where they only provide the bare minimum. The nursing leader must step up and inspire the rest of the nursing staff to over perform, and therefore show a competence level that is far above average.
On top of these roles, there are a wide variety…
