My Journey to Becoming a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner - Essay Sample

Introduction

While growing up, I have always had a desire to practice nursing, and what inspired me to develop a desire to practice PNP, was after enrolling in a first aid class, we were taught a lot of ways that one can use to save lives. This has helped me to successfully transition into being a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) at Oak Lawn Pediatric care in Chicago. My philosophy views nursing as an independent, and collaborative care of people of all ages, households, groups, and communities in all contexts (Shamian, 2014). The nursing practice involves several activities like promotion of health, prevention of illness, providing specialized care, and caring for the elderly, and disabled individuals (Shamian, 2014). My nursing vision is geared towards shaping the health policy, enhancing community engagement practices that will ensure the health of the population is improved. For example, sensitizing the need for community members to get screened for chronic ailments, such as cancer, and diabetes, and also encouraging them to join Medicare, Medicaid or Obamacare so that they may get increased access to specialized care that is costly in the United States. The paper will analyze my philosophy regarding the nursing profession.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The major nursing domains that I have familiarized noticed are; nursing, person, health, and environment (Kim, 1987). These nursing domains are connected. For example, nursing delves with the role of providing quality health care services to the patients, also if there is political stability, economic factors form the context which enables the nursing profession to thrive well (Kim, 1987). To shed more light on the previous statement, if there sound economic and political conditions in the society, nurses will be able to promote their preventive services to the patients as they promote population health.

My Values and Beliefs Regarding Nursing

My key values and beliefs are honesty, integrity, compassion, hard work, and collaboration with other nursing colleagues to accomplish common objectives (Freed et al., 2010). I endeavor to try and factor in these values and beliefs in my conscience whenever I am making individual decisions and also providing quality care to patients under my care. In my perspective, nursing is concerned with empathy and trying to assist the patients by providing quality health care, therapeutics, and by understanding them on all psychological, physical and social levels. I am a hardworking, goal-oriented, honest, and empathetic Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) who partners with other nursing colleagues. I am a keen listener, and I always focus my strength and energy to understand the needs of lactating mothers, and their offspring.

As a primary care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, I endeavor to provide care to children from birth through young adult. My role is also intended to fulfill the specialized physiological, and mental needs of children in the areas of health preservation, and promotion, and overall management of diseases that affect young children. Moreover, nursing is a profession that encompasses continuous learning of new innovational advances in the field of nursing and caregiving. As a professional nurse, I feel committed to lengthy learning, and practical experiences to improve my nursing skills.

Nursing care perceives the patient as an individual, and not just the health problem that is being addressed at the period. As a PNP I need to consider the patient's background, family structure, and other elements that might help my understanding to help the patient more. Throughout, the pediatric nursing practice I have been privileged to interact with families of different living conditions, communities, and also family issues. The main principle that guides my PNP practice is collaboration and sincerity. Further, my ethical perspective is based on beneficence, which means I am more concerned about delivering the best quality care to every child that is presented to me.

The Challenges I Might Face as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP)

Some of the challenges that I encounter as a PNP is related to many other Nurse Practitioners (NP) on the issue of reimbursement, and organizational barriers. Whereby, the physician gets paid more than an NP who does the workload in ensuring the patient gets quality health care (Dubree, Jones, Kapu & Parmley, 2015). I propose that as the PNP, we should be reimbursed better since we get the work done, unlike the physicians who only manage the health and medical needs of the patients. Another challenge is constant barriers that limit PNP's and other NPS from providing quality health care to their scope of practice, and also regulations that create stiff competition, and reduce collaboration among healthcare providers. This element affects me the most since one of my virtue is to collaborate with other medical colleagues to provide the best care for children. The final challenge mostly faces new PNP's who find it hard to obtain certification due to strict educational requirements such as a doctorate, which most of them currently lack (Dubree et al., 2015). Another challenge I constantly face as a PNP is exhaustion due to the great workload and shortage of PNPs, and also apparent lack of managerial knowledge for our managers.

The Current Trends in Pediatric Nursing Profession

The American government is working around the clock to ensure they provide grants that will give PNPs a good opportunity to broaden their knowledge on how to provide quality child health care needs (Freed et al., 2010). I have been privileged to participate in state-funded programs on the implementation of clinical frameworks, and protocols that will enhance quality prenatal, and postnatal care for children in developing nations where the cases of infant deaths are high (Price & Reichert, 2017). Further, broadening the PNP workforce to accomplish the child health care needs is a growing aspect that the health care stakeholders are looking closely into.

My Goals of Professional Development

As a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, I need to possess the requisite skills and professional competencies in delivering my professional mandates. Professional development is one the facet that makes nurses be a profession particularly in the context of professional growth ruffle among other health care workers (Zuzelo, 2010). One of my objectives to ensure that I grow professionally is through enrolling for a master's graduate course in PNP, to ensure that I get more skills in delivering quality care to children and lactating mothers.

Reflection is a pragmatic strategy that I would love to implement, and it will help me to examine situations, and make judgment specific to the efficacy of situational interventions, and quality of results. Naturally, as a nurse practitioner, I am determined to ensure that I grow my leadership skills, and that will help me better administer quality health care to children. The aspect of reflective practice as an element of enhancing professional development has worked to my advantage since I have been able to find solutions to challenging, and complicated actions, and particularly familiarizing myself with the current trends in pediatric nursing care (Zuzelo, 2010). I was able to polish up my reflective practice skills after enrolling the Clinical Placement Support Unit (CPSU), and I would recommend other NPs to enroll in this program (Zuzelo, 2010). I have always viewed reflective practice learning as a form of professional development that can help me and other NPS to connect between art and science of nursing with the context of providing better preventive caring to the patients.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the essay has provided a broad analysis of my philosophy regarding the nursing profession. My core values and beliefs are honesty, integrity, compassion, hard work, and collaboration with other nursing colleagues to accomplish common goals. These key values and beliefs align with the definition of nursing as a means of promoting preventive care, providing specialized care, and caring for the elderly, and disabled individuals. Finally, My goals in professional development are hellbent on advancing my reflective practice skills through programs like Clinical Placement Support Unit (CPSU).

References

Dubree, M., Jones, P., Kapu, A., & Parmley, C. L. (2015). APRN Practice: Challenges, Empowerment, and Outcomes. Nurse Leader, 13(2), 43-49. Retrieved from https://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/documents/nursingoap/files/APRN%20Practice%20Challenges%20Empowerment%20and%20Outcomes.pdf

Freed, G. L., Dunham, K. M., Lamarand, K. E., Loveland-Cherry, C., Martyn, K. K., & American Board of Pediatrics Research Advisory Committee. (2010). Pediatric nurse practitioners: roles and scope of practice. Pediatrics, 126(5), 846-850. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/JPHC_PNP_Workforce_2013.pdf

Kim, H. S. (1987). Structuring the nursing knowledge system: A typology of four domains. Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice, 1(2), 99-110. Retrieved from https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrsinp/1/2/99

Price, S., & Reichert, C. (2017). The importance of continuing professional development to career satisfaction and patient care: meeting the needs of novice to mid-to late-career nurses throughout their career span. Administrative Sciences, 7(2), 17. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/admsci-07-00017.pdf

Shamian, J. (2014). The role of nursing in health care. Revista brasileira de enfermagem, 67(6), 867-868. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/reben/v67n6/0034-7167-reben-67-06-0867.pdf

Zuzelo, P. R. (2010). Strategic Career Planning: Professional and Personal Development. The Clinical Nurse Specialist Handbook (1-32),(PR Zuzelo), Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Mass, USA. Retrieved from https://samples.jbpub.com/9780763761141/61141_CH01_001_032.pdf