THREE: Ethics: This portion of the learning experience for the RN wanting to be an APRN is important because: a) ethical dilemmas and how they impact patient care must be part of the curriculum; b) decision-making with ethics as a driver for decisions must be learned; c) in what instances do personal conflict of interest arise? FOUR: Professional Role Development: the knowledge and skills to be effective are taught: a) learn collaboration with other healthcare professionals; b) an APRN must be an advocate, a teacher, a researcher, a consultant, a clinician, and a manager; c) changes must be monitored so learning to monitor changes is important; d) graduates must have learned how to recruit potential new students into the field. FIVE: Human Diversity and Social Issues: An APRN must not only be open-minded and comfortable with patients and nurses from other cultures, the APRN must: a) assess his or her community using "appropriate epidemiological principles"; b) understand the cultural norms and specific health practices of myriad cultural and ethnic groups, in order to make care appropriate to any culture; c) be prepared to practice within a "multicultural workforce"; SIX: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: the course work for this topic should give graduates sufficient skills to: a) use "epidemiological, social, and environmental data to draw inferences" with reference to the health of clients, families, communities and groups; b) monitor holistic and comprehensive strategies that point towards preventing disease; and c) incorporate theories and research that lead to counseling and teaching strategies (AACN).
Core Curriculum for Advanced Practice Nursing
The core curriculum that should be found in all Master's programs for RNs seeking to become Advance Practice Nurses will include: Advanced Health/Physical Assessment; Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology; and Advanced Pharmacology (AACN).
Role Development from a Theoretical Perspective
Theory is an important component of the advanced nursing milieu; course work should offer graduates ample skills and knowledge to be able to evaluate and deeply critique many theories (even...
Author Anne Barker discusses the theoretical foundation for advanced nursing practice, and points to four types of theory that advanced nurses must be familiar with. One, descriptive theories that spell out a particular discipline; two, explanatory theories explain how various concepts interact; three, predictive theories predict the "…relationships between the concepts of a phenomenon and under what conditions it will occur; and four, prescriptive theories actually lead to interventions and to the consequences of interventions (Barker, 2009, p. 374). What is important to remember is that "…theory informs practice as practice informs theory…we must understand and use theory and research to guide practice while at the same time analyzing and critiquing our practice…" in order to create new and more relevant theories (Barker, p. 375).
Works Cited
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2005). The Essentials of Master's Education
For Advanced Practice Nursing. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.aacn.nche, edu.
Barker, Anne. (2009) Advanced Practice Nursing: Essential Knowledge for the Profession.
Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
California Department of Consumer Affairs / Board of Registered Nursing. (2010). License /
Certificate Renewal. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.rn.ca.gov.
DeNisco, Susan M., and Barker, Anne M. (2012). Advanced Practice Nursing: Evolving Roles
for the Transformation of the Profession. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Florida Department of Health / Florida Board of Nursing. (2003). Nurse Practice Act / Rules of the Board of Nursing. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.doh.state.fl.us.
Jansen, Michaelene. (2010). Advanced Practice Within a Nursing Paradigm. In Advanced
Practice Nursing: Core Concepts for Professional Role Development, M. Jansen, M.
Zwygart-Stauffacher, Eds. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
