Article Review on Family Nurse Practitioners

Week 6, Journal Review

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Family nurse practitioners are medical examiners certified by the nursing board to administer care to patients throughout their life. Horrocks, Anderson, & Salisbury (2002); practitioners (2002) posit that, FNP work with their patients in family settings at different stages of their health advancements. To qualify to work as an FNP, one has to have skills in applying medical theory and research to individuals and families. They should be able to provide both acute and primary care health to families without being under the supervision of any medical practitioner (Long et. al, 2008). Besides, they should also be able to adapt to different health working environments since personalities among patients differ. Clinical assessment of FNP is of importance to the stakeholders involved since it helps to determine the nurse's ability to act safely in case of emergencies as well their problem-solving skills (World Health Organization, World Organization of National Colleges, & Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians, 2008; West, 2006)

Practicum Experience

My Practicum experience mainly focused on advanced health assessment as an FPN. In this, one would be required to conduct patient interviewing and history taking off their health conditions to relate to the present physical exam findings. This was done to be able to relate the educational bit of the work to that what we practiced in our nursing stations. Also, we also engaged in primary care practice where we were required to focus on diagnostic test interpretation of patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension (Prislin et, al., 1998. This involved not only physical examination of their body condition but also laboratory tests and clinical follow-ups of the patients (Watson et, al, 2002).

During the health promotion and maintenance exercise, we were required to focus on chronic illness from patients suffering from MS, diabetes, and hypertension. This was done since these three chronic conditions were related. One condition such as diabetes has a high chance of resulting in hypertension. In the same way, patients with hypertension have a high chance of suffering from MS. Besides, some of the drugs taken to diagnose hypertension can be prescribed to reduce MS severity (Prison et al. 1998; National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties 2011).

In line with the scope of work of FNP, the above work assessment is in line with their clinical practice which entails history taking skills of patients medical examination, physical examination of specific conditions such as hypertension to patients and clinical decisions making. These are important factors to consider while administering prescription or diagnosis to patients O'connell, Gardner, & Coyer, (2014).

Case study

Chief Complaint: Black male who is 48 years old

Patients physical analysis: Weight, 290 Ib Height, 62 inches tall

Health vital signs of patient

B/P: 162/76

Pulse: 89

Respiration: 22

Temp:98.4

Blood glucose:156

Patient medical history

The patient is suffering from multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes and hypertension

Medication

Diabetes: [Patient controls the condition by dieting, pioglitazone, and metformin 500mg. These are taken twice a day.

Multiple Sclerosis: Interferon beta-1a (Avonex, Rebif), peg interferon beta-1a

Hypertension: Amlodipine 5mg

Multiple sclerosis is a health condition that affects the human brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. According to Cowan, Norman, & Coopamah, (2005); Epstein, (2007), a severe condition of MS causes poor vision and muscle control imbalance and disrupt of flow of information to the brain. On the other hand, high blood pressure is a critical medical condition that leads to increasing blood pumping to the walls of the heart which, in the long run, may damage the blood vessels and arteries (Dufield et al. 2009; Major 2005). From the above case study, it is presumed that there is a close relationship between MS and high blood pressure. According to Ward, & Barratt, (2005), most of the patients sufferings from MS have a great affinity to suffering from high blood pressure. Patients with hypertension experienced slow MS progression as compared to those without hypertension (Rushforth, 2007).

Conclusion

Family nurse practitioners help to administer care to their particular patient regardless of their age. Patients suffering from MS as well as hypertension can reduce the severity of the disease by taking hypertension drugs. Conducting of patients clinical assessment helps one to manage the patients condition as well as administer the right diagnosis.

References

Cowan, D. T., Norman, I., & Coopamah, V. P. (2005). Competence in nursing practice: a controversial concepta focused review of literature. Nurse education today, 25(5), 355-362.

Duffield, C., Gardner, G., Chang, A. M., & Catling-Paull, C. (2009). Advanced nursing practice: a global perspective. Collegian, 16(2), 55-62.

Epstein, R. M. (2007). Assessment in medical education. N Engl J Med, 2007(356), 387-396.

Horrocks, S., Anderson, E., & Salisbury, C. (2002). Systematic review of whether nurse practitioners working in primary care can provide equivalent care to doctors. Bmj, 324(7341), 819-823.

Major, D. A. (2005). OSCEsseven years on the bandwagon: The progress of an objective structured clinical evaluation programme. Nurse Education Today, 25(6), 442-454.

Practitioners, N. (2002). An RCN Guide to the Nurse Practitioner Role. Competencies and Programme Accreditation London RCN http://www. amazon. co. uk/Nurse-Practitioners-Practitioner-Competencies-Accreditation/dp/B001OPBHKW.

Prislin, M. D., Fitzpatrick, C. F., Lie, D., Giglio, M., Radecki, S., & Lewis, E. (1998). Use of an objective structured clinical examination in evaluating student performance. FAMILY MEDICINE-KANSAS CITY-, 30, 338-344.

Long, A., McCann, S., McKnight, A., & Bradley, T. (2004). Has the introduction of nurse practitioners changed the working patterns of primary care teams?: A qualitative study. Primary Health Care Research and Development, 5(01), 28-39.

National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (2011). Statement on Acute and Primary Care Nurse Practitioner practice.

O'connell, J., Gardner, G., & Coyer, F. (2014). Beyond competencies: using a capability framework in developing practice standards for advanced practice nursing. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(12), 2728-2735.

Rushforth, H. E. (2007). Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE): review of literature and implications for nursing education. Nurse education today, 27(5), 481-490.

Ward, H., & Barratt, J. (2005). Assessment of nurse practitioner advanced clinical practice skills: using the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) Helen Ward and Julian Barratt examine how OSCEs can be developed to ensure a robust assessment of clinical competence. Primary Health Care, 15(10), 37-41.

Watson, R., Stimpson, A., Topping, A., & Porock, D. (2002). Clinical competence assessment in nursing: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of advanced nursing, 39(5), 421-431.

West, S. L. (2006). Physical assessment: whose role is it anyway?. Nursing in critical care, 11(4), 161-167.

World Health Organization, World Organization of National Colleges, & Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians. (2008). Integrating mental health into primary care: a global perspective. World Health Organization.