Core competencies of nurse practitioners versus indirect care providers

FNP core competencies with compare and contrast to other APN roles

Compare and contrast the core competencies of a direct care provider advanced role and indirect care provider advanced role

Direct care provider advanced role takes into account advanced practice nurses in advanced patient care, for instance, family nurse specialists, licensed nurse midwives, and clinical nurse experts. On the other hand, indirect care provider roles take into account nurse administrators, nurse educators, nurse informaticists. Care providers in these roles do not play any direct part in patient care settings. The advanced roles for both direct care providers and indirect care providers necessitate core competencies that are both similar and dissimilar (Hamric et al., 2009).

The direct care advanced practice roles in various settings in numerous states are obligated to abide by Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Consensus Model. In particular, this model specifies the factors and range of practices for the advanced practice registered nurses taking into consideration that provision of direct care concentrates on the population as a whole. On the other hand, indirect care basically encompasses wide-ranging specialties. One of the most distinctive dissimilarities is that direct care providers are practical with respect to rendering patient care but may also operate and undertake activities in indirect roles, for instance in education, administration as well as informaticist roles. However, indirect care providers are not permitted to take part in direct care actions. In particular, indirect care providers are able to function and operate in all kinds of settings that direct care providers engage in, but are not allowed to take part in similar functions and role of rendering health care. For instance, they cannot diagnose, prescribe or allot medication (Stanley et al., 2009).

As a NP student, compare your role\'s core competencies to that of the nurse informaticist or the nurse administrator

The Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies assimilate and develop on the basis of prevailing Master\'s and DNP core competencies. In addition, they are guiding principles for educational programs in the preparation of NPs to execute the entire range of practice as a certified independent practitioner. The competencies are important conducts of all NPs. They are indicated upon graduation, irrespective of the population emphasis of the program and are required for NPs to meet the intricate difficulties of translating swiftly intensifying knowledge into practice and operate in a fluctuating health care setting. The role of the nurse practitioner student can have varying core competencies in relation to that of the nurse informaticist (Thomas et al., 2011).

Nursing informatics is a specialty that assimilates nursing science, computer science, together with information knowledge and acumen in nursing practice. In particular, nursing informatics provide support to patients, consumers as well as other providers in their decision-making in all roles and settings. Informatics competencies are necessitated by all nurses whether or not they become experts in informatics. As nurse settings come to be more pervasive computing settings, it is imperative for all nurses to be both edifying and computer literate. Nursing informatics competencies encompass an integrated and prevailing evolvement from Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), American Nurses Association (ANA), and the TIGER Initiative. With respect to ANA, the competencies for this particular role of nursing informaticist include computer literacy, information literacy and professional development and leadership. QSEN delineates competencies in informatics. In addition, with respect to the TIGER Initiative, the competencies necessitated include information management, basic computer and information literacy (QSEN Nursing Informatics, 2012).

Another point of similarity with respect to core competencies takes into account ethical competencies. Regardless of whether an individual is an NP student or nurse informaticist, he or she is expected to incorporate ethical principles in decision making, examining the ethical consequences of decisions and also the application of reasonable solutions to intricate nursing and health care issues. Another aspect of similarity is quality competencies. Both NP students and nurse informaticists should be able to execute interventions to ensure quality, and use best accessible evidence to continuously enhance the quality of clinical practice. It also encompasses the evaluation of the organizational structure, care practices, financing, marketing and policy decisions have an effect on the quality of health care rendered (Thomas et al., 2011).

On the other hand, with respect to the NP student role, the core competencies encompassed are those of the NP Core Competencies. According to Thomas et al. (2011), these competencies are obtained by means of taught and guided patient care experiences with focus on autonomous and inter-professional practice, analytics skills for assessing and rendering evidence-based care, patient centered care across various environments and advanced knowledge of the healthcare delivery system. One of the key similarities in core competencies for both the NP student and nursing informaticist encompasses the demonstration of information literacy skills in intricate decision making. In addition, it encompasses adding to the design of clinical information systems that give rise to safe, quality, as well as cost-effective care. There is also the utilization of technology systems that seize data on variables for the assessment of nursing care (Thomas et al., 2011).

However, there are distinctive variances in core competencies of these roles. A key difference is that the role of NP student necessitated independent practice competencies. A NP student is expected to know how to practice independently, managing preceding diagnosed and undiagnosed patients. Different from a nursing informaticist, a NP student is expected to be able to hand out prescriptions of medication within the scope of practice, use screening and diagnostic ways in the development of diagnoses and also managing the health status of patients as well as households over a period of time. What is more, a key aspect of difference is that a nursing informaticist has to have informatics as a core competence. On the other hand, a NP student is expected to render the full range of health care services to consist of health promotion, disease deterrence, health safety, preventive guidance, counseling, disease management, analgesic, and end of life care (Thomas et al., 2011).