NUR 513 Week 8 Benchmark – Future Scope, Role, and Professional Obligations Paper

NUR 513 Week 8 Benchmark – Future Scope, Role, and Professional Obligations Paper
Advanced registered nursing graduates are entering the profession at dynamic time when roles and scope of practice are shifting based on developments in legislation and policy in response to the evolving needs of the health care system. Professional nursing organizations play an important role in making sure the perspectives of advanced registered nurses are heard, and in supporting nurse specialties in their efforts to expand their scope of practice and their full participation throughout the health care system.

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are specialty nurses who enter the profession with specialized roles and practice scope based on the reforms occurring to improve access and quality of care. APRNs have an essential role in shaping the direction of care delivery based on their expertise and involvement in professional nursing organizations like the American Nurses Association (ANA). The scope and roles of nurse leaders continues to widen due to dynamic health environment and the need to serve diverse patient population (Stamps et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the scope nurse leadership specialty and three professional organizations that are most influential in advancing this scope and influence of advanced nursing. The paper also discusses a controversial issue that may impact nurse leadership’s scope of practice and role.

For this assignment, you will conduct research on the current scope of practice for your specialty and efforts that are being made to expand that scope and the role of the advanced nurse in positively influencing the health care system. Write a 1,250-1,500-word paper that includes the following:

A discussion of the scope of your future role as an advanced registered nurse, including any regulatory, certification, or accreditation agencies that define that scope.
A discussion of three professional nursing organizations that you think are most influential in advancing the scope and influence of advanced nursing. Of these organizations, evaluate the one that you would most like to join. How do its goals and mission fit in with your worldview and philosophy of care? How might membership in this organization improve your practice?
A discussion of a controversial or evolving issue that is most likely to affect your scope of practice or role in the next few years. How do you think this issue could influence the profession and other stakeholders, and why does it matters to the advanced registered nurse?
You are required to cite five to 10 sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are specialty nurses who enter the profession with specialized roles and practice scope based on the reforms occurring to improve access and quality of care. APRNs have an essential role in shaping the direction of care delivery based on their expertise and involvement in professional nursing organizations like the American Nurses Association (ANA). The scope and roles of nurse leaders continues to widen due to dynamic health environment and the need to serve diverse patient population (Stamps et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the scope nurse leadership specialty and three professional organizations that are most influential in advancing this scope and influence of advanced nursing. The paper also discusses a controversial issue that may impact nurse leadership’s scope of practice and role.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Sample Answer for NUR 513 Week 8 Benchmark – Future Scope, Role, and Professional Obligations Paper

Nursing is among the leading evolving and dynamic professions with unlimited opportunities. Nurses play crucial roles in the provision of health care services to people to ensure they achieve or maintain optimum health. However, their practices depend on qualification, work experience, and membership to nursing organizations. Moreover, nurses must play their duties in compliance with their scope of practice. However, the changing landscape of the health care system and the dynamic profile of populations require significant shift to primary care. This shift is vital in the provision of seamless care and allowing nurses to practice to their full extent of their training and education. Nurses are exclusively prepared to support and guide health care transformation (Baron, 2017). With this understanding, this paper seeks to delve into the future scope of practice for nursing educator and the efforts to advance the role of nurse educator to positively influence health care system. In particular, the paper will discuss the scope of future role as nurse educator with focus on regulatory, certification, and accreditation agencies that define their scope of practice. The paper will also discuss three professional nursing organizations that are most influential in advancing their scope and influence, and the organization I would most likely join. Finally, the paper will delve into the controversial or evolving issue with higher potential of affecting the scope of practice for nurse educators.

The Future Scope of Practice for Nurse Educators

Nurses pursuing MSN in nursing education are well equipped for future roles in various capacities such as patient educators, academic educators, and nursing curriculum developers, and professional developers in practice facilities. Although nursing, especially the concept of caring, dates back to time immemorial, nursing education has highly evolved, which evolution can be traced to the post-Nightingale’s era. During this era, nursing education became more recognized, developed, and consistent. Nursing education has since evolved continuously. Currently, nurse educators are equipped with competencies requisite for innovative delivery models in health care and for continuous quality improvement (Baron, 2017). Given the important focus given to nurse education currently, it is apparent that nurse educators will play important role in the future of nursing. They play a fundamental role of shaping the future of nursing practice and healthcare by preparing students with necessary competencies and skills to succeed in this highly complex, evolving, and technologically advanced health care system (Jaroneski & Przymusinski, 2018).

Regulatory, Certification, and Accreditation Agencies

The regulatory agency for nursing education is the National Council of the State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). NCSBN creates vital resources and programs for nursing regulatory bodies to assist them in their duties of regulating nursing education programs. NCSBN works alongside organizations dealing with nursing education, nurse educators, and pertinent stakeholders that participate in meetings aimed at advancing the practice of nurse educators. The agency also ensures that nurses are up-to-date with the current issues in nursing education and medicine (Spector et al., 2020). Regarding certification, the agency responsible for certifying nurse educators is the National League for Nursing (NLN). Certification is essential for nurse educators because it demonstrates that education is their specialty. Certification also shows that the certified nurse educator is qualified as a professional since it establishes and satisfies the optimal excellence standards. On the other hand, the accreditation of nurse educators is conducted by the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). The accreditation body of NOCA is the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which accredits all nursing organizations complying with the recognized CCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. The standards of NCCA determine if the certification programs adhere to the current standards of care (Church et al., 2019).

Influential Professional Nursing Organizations to Promote Nurse Educators Practice

There are several professional nursing organizations that can promote nurse educator practices. However, as a nurse educator dealing with postpartum care, the three organizations identified include National League for Nursing (NLN), the American Nurses Association (ANA), and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN). The NLN is the leading national organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers essential services for its members such as faculty development, nursing research grants, networking opportunities, public policy programs, and testing services. It provides service to over 40,000 people and 1,200 institutional members. In line with its mission, the NLN advances excellence in nursing education to ensure strong and diverse nursing workforce. As such, members of NLN represent nursing education initiatives in the entire continuum of health care organizations, higher education, and agencies (Jaroneski & Przymusinski, 2018).

The ANA is another important professional nursing organization for registered nurses (RN) including nurse educators. ANA is the pioneer organization to advocate for the wellbeing of all RN in the US. It is leading in ensuring enhancement in patient care and welfare and is currently one of the leading voices in the nursing profession (Jaroneski & Przymusinski, 2018). As such, joining the ANA is essential in advancing high standards in patient care, advocate for issues involving nursing profession and nurses, and foster ethical and safe practice environment.

The AWHONN is also an important professional nursing organization that seeks to support nurses who care for newborns, mothers, and their families through education, advocacy, and research. The organization’s goals are anchored on awareness, diversity, knowledge, dedication to members, and infrastructure. The AWHONN plays a significant role in advocacy, with its members speaking against the issues that impact child and maternal health (Abushaikha et al., 2021).

Of the three organizations, the most influential professional organization that I would most likely join is AWHONN. Joining this organization is poised to improve and advance my professional development. The mission of this organization is in line with my philosophy and worldview in nursing, which is being compassionate and caring about patients and colleagues as contained in the Jean Watson’s caring theory. In my role as a nurse educator focusing on postpartum care, I intend to impart the knowledge to my students that caring restores energies and prospective that helps both nurses and patients. Moreover, the integrity of AWHONN to its fundamental ideologies and diversity makes it an exceptional nursing professional organization. The membership of AWHONN is likely to improve my practice by advancing professional development and prioritize realization of needs of all members. It also supports professional development through various initiatives such as nursing careers, grants, volunteer services, research programs, and awards (Abushaikha et al., 2021). As such, the membership of this organization will provide resources, tools, and opportunities to enhance my future career as a nurse educator.

Evolving Issue Affecting Nurse Educators

An evolving issue that is expected to affect nurse educators is the increasing patient diversity and how to prepare nursing students to care for this diversity. For instance, the non-hospital based patient population is significantly increasing today, creating a fundamental transition from hospital-based care to community-based care (Gibson et al., 2020). With this understanding, it is imperative for some nurse educators to prepare nursing students with competency to deliver care for diverse patient population with special focus on cultural competency care. This can be achieved through nursing curriculum change. However, it is challenging to create these new skills and to shift from hospital-based care to community-based care, especially for the new nurses. Moreover, this shift will also impact other stakeholders in the nursing education sector. As such, nurse educators and nursing education organizations will be forced to prepare students with competencies and skills needed for seamless shift to community-based care.

Conclusion

Nursing education as a specialty has been characterized by massive evolution. The current nursing education strives to prepare students with skills and competency to advance research, satisfy diverse patient population needs, cultural competency, and nursing leadership. There are various professional nursing organizations such as NLN, ANA, and AWHONN that seek to improve and advance professional development in nurses. The identified evolving issue that is expected to influence nurse educators’ practice is the increasing shift from hospital-based care to community-based care and the associated pressure to produce graduates with capability to transition to community-based care. Nurse educators are expected to change their curriculum and alter their practice to accommodate this shift to cultural competence care.

References

Abushaikha, L., Edwards, J. E., & Cesario, S. (2021). “Moms and babies first”-A historical overview of the Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Nursing Outlook. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.05.012

Baron, K. A. (2017). Changing to concept-based curricula: The process for nurse educators. The open nursing journal, 11, 277. doi: 10.2174/1874434601711010277

Church, C. D., Cosme, S., & O’Brien, M. (2019). Accreditation of transition to practice programs: Assessing the value and impact. Journal for nurses in professional development, 35(4), 180-184. doi: 10.1097/NND.0000000000000555

Gibson, R., MacLeod, N., Donaldson, L. J., Williams, H., Hibbert, P., Parry, G., & Carson‐Stevens, A. (2020). A mixed‐methods analysis of patient safety incidents involving opioid substitution treatment with methadone or buprenorphine in community‐based care in England and Wales. Addiction, 115(11), 2066-2076. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15039

Jaroneski, L. A., & Przymusinski, L. A. (2018). So You Want to Teach Clinical?: A Guide for New Nursing Clinical Instructors. Routledge.

Spector, N., Silvestre, J., Alexander, M., Martin, B., Hooper, J. I., Squires, A., & Ojemeni, M. (2020). NCSBN regulatory guidelines and evidence-based quality indicators for nursing education programs. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 11(2), S1-S64. https://www.ncsbn.org/15916.htm

Sample Answer 2 for NUR 513 Week 8 Benchmark – Future Scope, Role, and Professional Obligations Paper

Advanced registered nurses play a critical role in the current healthcare system in America. Advanced registered nurses enhance the access to care by addressing the shortage of physicians in the state. They also work with other healthcare providers and their patients to develop care interventions that utilize evidence-based data. In doing the above, advanced registered nurses practice in accordance with their scope of practice, standards, and philosophy. Therefore, this essay examines the scope of my future role as a nurse informaticist, professional organizations that will affect my scope, and evolving issues that are likely to affect my practice.

Scope of my Future Role as an Advanced Registered Nurse

My future role as an advanced registered nurse is nurse informaticist. Nurse informaticists are nurses who have advanced knowledge and skills in the use of informatics in healthcare. The scope of practice of nurse informaticists is broad. Accordingly, nurse informaticists integrate information management as well as analytical sciences into nursing science. The aim of integrating information from the above disciplines is to understand, define, and communicate the ways in which technology-related data can be used to inform nursing practice. The scope of nurse informatics also extends to the use of health technologies and their related data to make informed decisions in their organizations (Kleib & Nagle, 2018). The ability to make informed decisions using informatics is attributable to the support that health organizations and providers acquire using information processes, information structures, and information technology.

The scope of nurse informaticists also entails undertaking the assessment of organizational needs. Nurse informaticists perform an analysis of the needs of their organizations and the appropriate health technologies that can be embraced to address them. For example, nurse informaticists identify organizational issues such as medication errors and propose the use of technologies such as barcode medication administration systems in solving them (Strudwick et al., 2019). The scope of nurse informaticists also includes planning. Nurse informaticists participate in system development and planning where they develop strategies that are needed for the successful implementation of technologies in their organizations. They also implement, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the adopted systems in addressing the needs of their organizations (O’Connor & LaRue, 2021). For example, they incorporate the inputs from other healthcare providers in ensuring the successful implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health information systems.

The scope of practice for nurse informaticists also includes the provision of their services with a consideration of ethics that influence their practice as well as competencies. Nurse informaticists promote safe, efficient and effective use of health information technologies in their organizations. They also ensure that competencies such as continued education, collaboration, leadership, and health policy are upheld in their practice (Kleib & Nagle, 2018). The American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC) certifies nurse informaticists. The respective states license the informaticists. The American Nurses Association (ANA) is also another professional body that influences the scope of practice for the nurse informaticists. ANA develops and defines the scope of practice, ethics, and competencies that nurse informaticists should uphold in their practice.

Three Professional Nursing Organizations

Professional nursing organizations play an important role in influencing the scope of practice, personal and professional development of advanced registered nurses. Nurse informaticists can belong to a number of professional nursing organizations. However, I am most likely to join professional organizations that include American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA), and American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is a professional organization that was developed with the aim of educating health information professionals. The organization aims at ensuring that health information professionals have the desired knowledge and skills in promoting safe use of health technologies and patient data. The organization also helps health organizations to achieve their desired goals of efficiency by ensuring interconnectedness of the patients with their healthcare providers and organizations. Nurse informaticists benefit by being members of the AHIMA by accessing the educational resources for their continued professional development. They also benefit from networking with other informaticists; hence, sharing information on ways in which health informatics can be advanced (AHIMA, n.d.).

The American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) is another professional institution that I can belong as a nurse informaticist. ANIA is a professional organization that was established for nurse informaticists. The organization aims at ensuring the integration of nursing, computer, and information science into nursing and informatics practice. The organization also advocates the adoption of interventions that increase the relevance of nursing informatics as a specialty that is critical to organizational performance and success. ANIA benefits its members through the promotion of professional development opportunities such as training and conferences and networking platform (ANIA, n.d.).

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) is the third professional organization that influences my scope of practice and role. AMIA is a professional organization that was developed with the main aim of transforming healthcare through practice of informatics. AMIA acts as a platform for connecting a community of professionals as well as students that are interested in health informatics. The organization also provides its members the opportunities to collaborate on issues related to application of informatics into research, education and healthcare. The membership to AMIA benefits healthcare providers through the provision of opportunities for professional development and networking (AMIA, n.d.).

One I am Likely to Join

I am most likely to join ANIA. I am likely to join ANIA because it was established with the main aim of meeting the needs of nurse informaticists. The organization is mainly interested in examining the ways in which nurse informaticists can contribute optimally to the performance of their organization. The organization also uses nursing philosophy in supporting interventions or initiatives that improve informatics in nursing and health. The mission, vision and goals of ANIA also align with my nursing philosophy. Accordingly, I believe in doing good and protecting the rights of others. ANIA aims at promoting safe and efficient use of health informatics in nursing practice. The organization strives to achieve its mission through collaboration, research and evidence-based practice. The organization’s focus on the above aspects aligns with my philosophy. My membership with ANIA will improve my practice in a number of ways. Firstly, the organization will contribute to my personal and professional development. The organization will provide me the opportunities to participate in interventions that contribute to continuous improvements in the practice of informatics (Nagle, 2021). The organization will also provide me the educational resources that I needed to develop and advance my competencies as a nurse informaticist. The other way in which my membership to ANIA will contribute to my practice is expanding my professional network. I will collaborate with other nurse informaticists in examining the ways in which nursing practice can be improved. I will also use the organization as a platform to share my knowledge with other providers through participation in activities such as scientific conferences on informatics.

Controversial or Evolving Issue Likely to Affect my Scope

A number of emerging or controversial issues are likely to affect my future scope as a nurse informaticist.  One of the issues is the promotion of the meaningful use of health information systems. The use of health information technologies entails the sharing of information between and among healthcare providers. Sharing of information entails the use of EMR systems that are associated with the challenge of maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of data. The use of EMR systems raise ethical issues related to protection of data integrity by health organizations. The implication of the above on my future practice is the increased need for the adoption of EMR systems that uphold data integrity. I also have the responsibility of assisting the organizations that I will be working in the future select effective and efficient systems to ensure meaningful use of data. The other emerging issue that is likely to affect my future scope of practice is the increased use of health technologies to provide personalized patient-care. Health technologies such as Telehealth have largely been embraced to promote patient-centered, continuity in care, and efficiency. However, the technologies raise ethical concerns about the safety and integrity of the patient data (Kleib et al., 2021). Therefore, I will have the responsibility of ensuring the safe and efficient use of health technologies in addressing the health needs of the diverse patient populations.

Conclusion

Nurse informaticists play a critical role in healthcare. Nurse informaticists abide by their scope of practice in addressing the needs of their organizations and patients. Professional organizations have a positive impact on the roles played by nurse informaticists. The organizations provide them with opportunities for professional growth alongside imparting them with knowledge and skills needed to address controversial and emerging needs in their practice. Therefore, nurse informaticists should remain updated on the events that affect their current and future practice.

References

AHIMA. (n.d.). AHIMA Home. AHIMA. https://www.ahima.org/

AMIA. (n.d.). AMIA Mission | AMIA. https://www.amia.org/about-amia/mission-and-history

ANIA. (n.d.). About Us [Text]. American Nursing Informatics Association. https://www.ania.org/about-us

Kleib, M., Chauvette, A., Furlong, K., Nagle, L., Slater, L., & McCloskey, R. (2021). Approaches for defining and assessing nursing informatics competencies: A scoping review. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 19(4), 794–841. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-20-00100

Kleib, M., & Nagle, L. (2018). Development of the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale and Evaluation of Alberta’s Registered Nurses’ Self-perceived Informatics Competencies. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 36(7), 350–358. https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000000435

Nagle, L. M. (2021). The Role of the Informatics Nurse. In P. Hussey & M. A. Kennedy (Eds.), Introduction to Nursing Informatics (pp. 295–315). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58740-6_11

O’Connor, S., & LaRue, E. (2021). Integrating informatics into undergraduate nursing education: A case study using a spiral learning approach. Nurse Education in Practice, 50, 102934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102934

Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics Competencies for Nurse Leaders: A Scoping Review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(6), 323–330. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000760

 

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