Master's-Prepared Nurse: Roles, Values, and Leadership

Advocacy and Professional Identity

Historically, nursing has seldom garnered the respect it deserves as a profession. A master's-prepared nurse is capable of performing many of the functions of a physician. The technical preparation and level of specialty involved confound stereotypes of the nursing profession as merely a "helper" to doctors.

Advanced practice nurses (APNs) occupy a distinct professional tier within healthcare. Their graduate-level education equips them not only with clinical expertise but also with the theoretical grounding to challenge outdated perceptions of nursing's scope and value. By demonstrating competencies that rival or complement those of physicians, master's-prepared nurses serve as living evidence that nursing is an autonomous, rigorous profession in its own right.

Professional Responsibilities and Continued Competence

In addition to technical duties, APNs are often called upon to act in managerial capacities. The nurse must balance the needs of the organization with the demands of patients and the responsibilities of the nurse-practitioner role. The master's-prepared nurse has a responsibility to stay at the cutting edge of professional literature — updating credentials, reading publications, and becoming a member of professional organizations.

Healthcare is a constantly changing field. The master's-prepared nurse must keep credentials updated to satisfy the legal requirements of the profession, but should also embrace personal education as a critical component of professional life. The nurse should strive to learn — both formally and informally — from colleagues, functioning in the capacity of both mentor and mentee.

Leadership, Role Modeling, and Policy

The master's-prepared nurse sets an example through professional composure and attitude. Because of their advanced educational background, master's-prepared nurses often carry a variety of additional responsibilities. They also play a role as public advocates for the profession when healthcare policy is being decided — for example, lobbying for an expanded role for nurses in order to contain healthcare costs (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Program Integrity, 2013, ANA).

Given this prominent role, the nurse must strive to adhere to both the spirit and letter of the law within the organization. This means being punctual, observing safety protocols, and demonstrating due diligence. Maintaining a professional attitude toward colleagues is equally essential, as the master's-prepared nurse's conduct directly shapes the culture of the workplace.

Values, Ethics, and Emotional Judgment

Occasionally, a nurse's personal values may conflict with those of the profession. A nurse might be asked to treat a patient whose lifestyle conflicts with her personal beliefs, or to provide care that her religious convictions would otherwise oppose. The nurse's professional ethics and responsibility to give care impartially must always come first: she is always acting as a representative of the profession before any other value construct, even personal ones.

No matter how scientific the nursing profession may be, nurses will inevitably be affected by emotions. Given that caring and caritas are critical components of nursing, this is entirely natural. Nursing requires a balance of emotion and empathy for the patient alongside the technical demands of the profession and the profession's higher ethical code.

The nurse may hold personal values rooted in professional concepts of health, as well as values shaped by personal experience. A patient's view of health may conflict with these. The nurse can act as an educator but should not dismiss the patient's perspective; rather, she must try to understand it and create common ground.

Because of the diversity of society, values will often conflict, and nursing is never a value-free profession. There are always ethical implications in the act of nursing — questions about what constitutes health and what constitutes a worthy life. Different cultures hold different values regarding how children should be raised and how the elderly are viewed, and these differences have a direct impact on nursing approaches. Nurses must have the professional skills to negotiate such values conflicts.

Research, Collaboration, and Clinical Practice

APNs, unlike some other types of nurse practitioners, have the ability to conduct independent research (What is APN?, 2013). This research may be an extension of the APN's academic or clinical experience. It may be grounded primarily in a nursing paradigm, or it may bridge other healthcare perspectives.

The master's-prepared nurse can also work as a collaborator with colleagues on a patient's case or in research. The nursing perspective is unique; however, advanced academic preparation enables the nurse to become more fluent in the discourses of other professions, facilitating genuine interdisciplinary dialogue.

Although the master's-prepared nurse has a strong grounding in the theoretical aspects of the discipline, it is ultimately in the field of practice where nursing knowledge is tested. The master's-prepared nurse brings clinical experience to inform academic knowledge. Real, lived experience is not discounted simply because it does not conform to preexisting theories.

Access to healthcare is a hotly debated issue. Many Americans lack health insurance or adequate coverage. In this complex bureaucratic landscape, APNs can act as advocates for their profession's ability to provide affordable, high-quality care. This consumer advocacy role complements the APN's clinical work by addressing systemic barriers that prevent patients from receiving the care they need.