Rules & Ways of Knowing The author of this report is asked to answer several questions as they relate to the current nursing classes that the author is taking. The first question is the role of scholarly during an APN/DNP program. The second question asks the author to discuss the interest the author has in the selected role and degree in question. A sub-section of that question is whether the role in question meets the APN consensus statement, what professional organizations offer certification in the applicable certification role and what the criteria are for any applicable industry exams. Next up will be a selection and explanation of an APN conceptual framework for practice. After that will be an explanation of the ways of knowing and how they influence the author's current practice. What will follow that is an identification and explanation of the author's preferred paradigm. Last will be a description of scholarship, the selected role, the APN conceptual framework and the ways of knowing contribute to the environment in which the author operates, patient care in general and the overall nursing profession. While the author of this report has a lot to learn about nursing, the passion and direction that guides the author is putting the author on the right track intellectually and professionally.

Questions Answered

Scholarship is important in any school or learning institution of any formality. However, when it comes to the life and death as well as other important struggles and situations surrounding the medical profession, the subject takes on a more stern and prominent importance. Due to the implications and lessons to be learned as they pertain to nursing and the broader medical profession, learning things the right way and thus then doing them right the first time every time whenever possible in the field is imperative. Learning nursing subjects effectively and completely prepares a nurse for the field and assists in teaching others both in established and official roles in which that is an expectation as well...

As oppose to a PhD, which is a research-type role, the DNP is a practice-oriented role. As explained by the Duke University program website, the DNP prepares people to be interdisciplinary leaders in a healthcare setting and thus allows the improving and perfecting of safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency and overall quality and equity of care for all patients in a setting like a hospital, a doctor's office or clinic (Duke, 2014). DNP students can do offshoots into certificate and similar learning such as with gerontology, midwifery, psychiatric work and primary care nurse practitioner work but the options for this depend on the college. While not a standard certification, a doctorate (research or practice) is considered the highest echelon of schooling that one can get in a given field (Utah, 2014). One certification that is related to emergency medicine is the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) as offered by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN). Two years of experience is recommended but not required and the renewal period for the certification is four years. The only hard requirement, more or less, is that all people seeking the certification must be a registered nurse in good standing so the author of this report already qualifies to sit for the exam (BCEN, 2014).
As for the framework selected that pertains to the work of Hamric et al., this can be found in the appendix to this report. In that figure, it is seen that there is a progression from the center to the exterior and into the highest reaches of nursing practice such as consultation/collaboration, ethical decision-making, teaching and coaching, leadership and research (MUN, 2014). The framework shows a pathway as knowledge increases and expands and the directions that one can take once reaching the higher limits of knowledge in…