N 502_Assignment 1 Individualized Professional Role Trajectory
Nursing is a broad and multidimensional career where a nurse chooses a specialty depending on skills, passion, and job description, among other factors. As they execute their professional mandate, nurses’ leadership style and professional goals are key drivers. Personal background also influences nurses to choose a particular career path. Some become nurse educators, as others become nurse administrators, family nurse practitioners, obstetricians, and pediatrics, among other specialized nursing roles. As nurses grow in practice, they keep on attaining various competencies enabling them to become better health care providers. This paper reflects my background and explains goals for attaining competencies and professional practice and role concepts anticipated in graduate school.
You will find important health information regarding minority groups by exploring the following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links:
- Minority Health: http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealt/index.html
- Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations: http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealt/populations/remp.html
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Professional Background
Nurses come from different regions of the world. Belonging to different families, races, and ethnic groups gives nurses varying attitudes, beliefs, and motivations that guide their everyday goals. One such goal is growing in areas where the populace struggle to access quality care. Witnessing people dying or struggling to deal with preventable illnesses often motivate health care providers to pursue health-related roles to act as people’s solutions. Other desires which act as a nurse’s professional background include belonging to a family of health practitioners. Observing how family members play a role in making societies better for everyone can be huge motivation too.
My academic history has been part of the motivation sources. In early childhood, I grew up in an area where young children lacked basic health services. In many instances, parents would only seek help when the children were in critical conditions. The same problems dominated other levels of learning, although they did not affect our academic success profoundly. However, it demonstrates a situation where there was a huge gap between the care accessible to people and what they should get depending on their needs. Tertiary education should be an eye-opener since a person is more informed about the challenges facing people every day. At this point, nurses, like other professionals, chose a career that advances personal goals while solving social problems.
On professional work history, much of what I have learned regarding work relationships, nursing essentials, ethics, and nurse-patient relationships was during attachments when pursuing my bachelor’s degree. From the different attachments in health care settings, I learned the required basics of patient care and what entails a satisfying career. Challenges and solutions were observed practically, and advancing in an area of choice is not expected to be highly challenging due to background knowledge gained so far.
Choosing Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
From a nursing perspective, it is always crucial to choose a career that will enable a nurse to address the gaps when growing up and during everyday interaction with patients. One of my reasons for choosing AGPCNP is the desire to promote health in the community. My academic and professional backgrounds have put me in a position where my desire to care for vulnerable population groups is higher than ever. I am also interested in working with culturally diverse adult populations. My passion for managing chronic health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension is high too. CDC (2021) found that obesity prevalence is as high as 42.4% (2017-2018). In 2017, hypertension claimed more than 494,873 lives (CDC, 2020). A career as an AGPCNP will enable me to provide care to diverse populations, including the elderly, adults, and adolescents.
A satisfying career is also defined by where a nurse works and typical everyday roles. From an operational perspective, the main role of the AGPCNP is assessing, diagnosing, and planning for the health needs of all adults (University of Cincinnati, 2021; American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 2020). As they do so, AGPCNPs work in various facilities, including hospital-based clinics, long-term care settings, and private institutions. A majority of everyday work includes obtaining patients’ medical histories, administering medical and non-medical therapies, and managing the transition between care settings. To a large extent, the career will enable me to interact directly with the patient.
Goals for Attaining Competencies
Competencies’ levels determine a nurse’s success in a nursing program. One of my goals for attaining competencies is using the available resources to understand the particulars of health promotion, patient protection, disease prevention, and treatment. These skills are the foundation of the knowledge required to assess patients’ health statuses efficiently. My second goal is to understand the basics of the nurse-patient relationship. Competency in this area will enable me to demonstrate the collaborative approach as one of the elements that enhance adult-gerontology care effectiveness. It will also put me in a better position to provide patient-centered care.
Professional Practice Goals
As a certified and licensed nurse practitioner, one of my goals as a professional practitioner is to provide culturally competent care. As a nurse who interacts directly with patients, it is crucial to avoid personal biases related to age, gender, and culture affecting quality care delivery. My second goal is growing in a practice where I will be assisting families and colleagues in promoting the patient’s self-determination rights, dignity, and autonomy. In this case, I will be an advocate of patient-centered care. My third goal is growing in a career where I will be engaging families to participate in care plans for patients. The best way to achieve this goal is by implementing the principles of interprofessional collaboration and embracing partnership as a core value in everyday practice.
Role Concepts
Life demands increase as a person advances in age. In the same frame, career demands increase as a nurse advances career and education levels. I anticipate encountering various role concepts due to the changing learning and practicing environments. For instance, role stress is inevitable due to the need to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I am more of an adult than before, and I cannot avoid the joint pressure of personal and academic demands. On role transition, I am moving to a different career with different perspectives, demands, and concentration areas. On role stressors, living in the Covid-19 era has brought many financial problems and personal fears that make the academic journey more stressful than before.
I have developed several strategies to deal with these role concepts as I go through graduate school. One such strategy is using a management plan. I have identified my priority areas and how to avoid risks and pressures as much as possible. I also plan to use the internet as an academic resource since it is cheaper than purchasing books. I will be renting whenever using a book is inevitable. I will also find a mentor. It is crucial to have someone reliable to share everyday problems with as a way of reducing stress and getting professional advice.
In conclusion, the transition from one academic level to the next is equally exciting and challenging. Choosing a different career has the same implications too. As a nurse, it is always important to be driven by passion when picking a professional career path. Working as an AGPCNP should be exciting, and I believe that I have acquired the necessary academic and professional background to excel in this specialty.
References
American Association of Nurse Practitioners. (2020, Jun 17). Are you considering a career as an adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner?. https://www.aanp.org/news-feed/are-you-considering-a-career-as-an-adult-gerontology-primary-care-nurse-practitioner
CDC. (2021, Feb 11). Adult obesity facts. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
CDC. (2020, Sep 8). Facts about hypertension. https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm#:~:text=High%20blood%20pressure%20was%20a,the%20United%20States%20in%202018.
University of Cincinnati. (2021). Nurse practitioner Master’s Degrees: FNP vs. AGNP. https://online.uc.edu/fnp-vs-agnp/