Essay Sample on Advanced Nurse Practice: Personal & Professional Development

Introduction

Within the advanced practice setting, the advanced nurse practitioner (APN) needs to have a developed personal and professional plan. The development of a professional plan further helps an APN to gain a considerable understanding of the different roles that the advanced practice nurses have, including the impacts of their roles on the healthcare system of the United States. The development of the personal development plan integrates various processes and decisions, such as addressing and understanding the APN practice act, complying with the licensure and regulations, the scope of practice and the plan to practice.

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Professional development entails assessing one's skills, such as the strength and weaknesses, personal and professional goals and the objectives. The author of this paper will present Illinois's APN scope of practice. The self-assessment through the use of the assessment tool created by Benner, methods for the APN networking and job marketing are all discussed in this paper. Finally, the resume and the conclusion are included.

Illinois' APN Scope of Practice

Ellenbecker & Edward (2016) reported that every states or jurisdiction possess their guideline and requirements, the licensure and certification (ACE). In this way, every practicing APN must follow the respective scope of practice of their states. However, the scope of practice differs from one state to another, and so is the level of autonomy. In this way, therefore, it is essential for the APNs who practice currently to have an understanding of the APN's acts of their states, as this will allow them to understand and abide by the scope. A certified Nurse Practitioner in Illinois is licensed as the ARPNs by the Illinois board of nursing (Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing, 2019).

As per the regulations, the range of the APNs includes collaborating with other medical practitioners during the patient's care. Additionally, APNs are responsible for the provision of primary care as well as preventative care services to the patients (Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing, 2019). The Illinois regulations further permit the APNs to involve themselves in the management of chronic or acute disease in different settings, and this enables them to promote wellness and evaluates patient health, orders diagnostics tests and laboratory tests and interprets them, prescribes medication and other therapeutic devices (Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing, 2019). They also perform procedures. It is also important to note that a certified Nurse Practitioner has the responsibility.

Individual/Personal Assessment

The completion of the self-assessment tool will be critically beneficial to every future advanced nurse practitioner. This is based on the fact that the self-assessment tool provides the practitioner with an opportunity to identify both their strengths and weaknesses and consequently work on those traits as the foundations for developing themselves professionally. In some cases, the self-assessment helps the advanced nurse practitioners, such as the Family Nurse Practitioners, to discover new areas of interest continuously. Undeniably, the APNs will provide the nurse will a comprehensive understanding of themselves, and this is highly helpful for the delivery of quality advanced patient care.

The use of Benner's Self-Assessment tool has enabled me to identify and know my position as an APN. I have found that I am at the beginner stage. Joel (2017) mentions that the practitioners at the beginner stage possess comprehensive clinical knowledge about a wide number of patient problems but need assistance and support from other experts to provide constructive feedback. While every practitioner may have his or her weaknesses, this is not the case with nursing.

The weaknesses can be built into a strength that will ultimately be used to provide the highest level of patient care. As a future family nurse practitioner, I must develop an attitude that I will continue my journey as an FNP to an expert who will also be able to provide constructive knowledge to the upcoming NPs.

The professional goals are essential for APN's professional development. Two types of professional goals exit and include the long-term goals and short-term goals. The short-term goals refer to those that are intended to be achieved within a short period, usually from a few months to 1 year. These goals are those that provide a firm foundation for the development and achievement of the long-term. My short-term goal is to work as an internal medicine Nurse Practitioner, and this will be determined by my ability to pass my licensure exam.

On the other hand, my long-term goal I to become an expert in the field of the clinical environment. This will be beneficial to me because I will have sufficient knowledge to teach and prepare students for similar roles in the future. The success comes through a lot of determination and involvement in continuous learning. I will constant to reassess and evaluate my goals, and this will enable me to prepare adequately for any challenges that may emanate during the process of moving forward with my APN career.

Objectives are a critical part of the professional development of any NP. For me, proper objectives will be significant because I will be able to navigate and meet my professional goals. Just like any other individual who is currently seeking employment or those who work, I also have my objectives. My objective to find a clinical setting where I wish to demonstrate my abilities, skills and experience towards the achievement of the mission of that facility. This will further provide me with adequate knowledge to practice and fulfil my professional dreams. Illinois State has a large number of NPs. In this sense, getting an appropriate strategy to network and stand out among the thousands who are qualified too is essential. I will work hard to give a good impression within the clinical settings to demonstrate my best potential as their employees.

Networking and Marketing Strategies

Marketing and networking are crucial aspects of the understanding of one's professional development (McMillan, 2019). After the completion of the NP school program and become a certified practitioner, I will be determined to network and market myself achieve my professional dreams. Ideally, the process of networking begins during the initiation of finding clinical preceptor and clinical site. On the other hand, it starts with from coworker, employer and then branches out in school (McMillan, 2019). I believe that there are a large number of professional organizations that could be used to network and sometimes advertise employment opportunities.

Being a member of organizations such as the Chicago Area Association of Neonatal Nurses (CAANN) or Illinois League for Nursing (ILN) will enable me to utilize such membership opportunities to network and market myself and possibly secure employment as a nurse practitioner. It is important to note that these organizations provide sufficient information that includes new laws and regulations that affect the NP, upcoming seminars and CEU's and employment for the available NPs, including those who have just graduated.

As part of my marketing initiative, I intend to seek membership with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Various reports have revealed that AANP is a federally recognized organization that provides the APNs with an opportunity to get real-time information about new employment opportunities,APRN policy updates and any other relevant information.

Finally, I will have to take advantage of technological advancement, which has given rise to the emergence of social media platforms such as Facebook, Doximity and LinkedIn. Specifically, the use of LinkedIn will be crucial in enabling me to market my skills and abilities, in addition to meeting other professionals within the same field.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the creation of a personal, professional development plan will be crucial in developing the understanding of one's skills, strengths and weaknesses. It further helps and enhances the knowledge of the Nurse Practitioner's scope of practice that is needed as an instrument to market and network to get employed. In my view, I believe that completion of the professional development plan has been crucial to me because I have gained a tremendous insight regarding the level of competency and skills where I belong based on Benner's Self-Assessment. Fundamentally, Benner's Self-Assessment is an essential tool that helps the individual identify their competency level and thus, the NP can continue to seek improvements and professional growth. I also believe that the completion of this APNs professional paper has enabled me to develop a different perspective towards my future advance practice. There is a large number of organizations that the current and new board-certified NP can network and market themselves from to seek employment opportunities other services that are pertinent to the profession and specialty. I think that after completing this paper, it gives me enough and understanding about APN professional development and will be helpful for my role transition from a registered nurse (RN) to future advanced practice registered nurse (APRN).

References

Ellenbecker, C. H., & Edward, J. (2016). Conducting nursing research to advance and inform health policy. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 17(4), 208-217. doi:10.1177/1527154417700634

Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing (2019). Latest news and updates. Retrieved from https://www.isapn.org/Joel, L. A. (2017). Advanced practice nursing: Essentials for role development. FA Davis.

McMillan, S. (2019). The Role of Advanced Practice Nurses in Advanced Care Planning for Cancer Patients. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7736&context=dissertation

Schober, M. (2016). Role and practice development. In Introduction to Advanced Nursing Practice (pp. 95-109). Springer, Cham.