Role of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Essay

Role of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) - Essay Example Sherwood (1997) tells us that environments are still somewhat restricted and that practice varies from state to state which causes some difficulty in efficient use of the NP where needed. The University of Texas Health Science Center defines Advanced Practice Nursing as "as a registered professional nurse who is prepared for advanced practice by virtue of knowledge and skills obtained through a post-basic or advanced education program of study acceptable to the State Board of Nurse Examiners"(Sherwood, et. al., 1997 pg3). The FNP is qualified to be the first person seen on entry to the healthcare system. This is usually client oriented and comprehensive, allowing for a continuum of care based on the collaborative practice studied and provided by the FNP. The focus of the practice is wellness and maintenance which allows the client to see the same practitioner longer before having need to be referred out to a specialist. Alternatively, Bennett defines a FNP as a healthcare professional who works directly with families and physicians to provide the best level of care. FNP's differ from physicians in that they practice in many settings. They possess advanced Masters level nursing degrees which has provided them with special training and experience to assess, treat, counsel, and monitor patients. They perform a collaborative practice in which they work with healthcare professionals as a team. They are able to order testing, refer patients and treat non-life threatening conditions (Bennett, 2004). The Texas Board of Practice on this same thought states that the APN acts independently and/or in collaboration with other health care professionals to deliver health care services (Texas Board of Practice, Section 221). They accordingly accomplish comprehensive health assessments with the goal of managing common acute illnesses, appropriate referral, managing chronic conditions that have remained stable. In t his description there are included; Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Nurse Anesthetists. The role originated in the University of Colorado in 1965. In 1974 the American Nurses Association published educational guidelines for credentialing of a NP. Since then, there have been many changes in the program and of course since there are so many types of programs available, there are concerns as to the quality and effectiveness of those programs. That curriculum includes advanced physiology, pharmacology, and clinical practice emphasizing a particular role. Texas strengthened even more of the program in the sense that they increased content for path physiology, pharmaco-therapeutics, practice roles, and preceptorship (Bennett, 2004). In most cases, registered nurses are required to obtain a Masters degree in nursing and have at least one year of RN experience before they are allowed to enter a Nurse Practitioner program, however, that is not always true. Nurse Practitioners can come from a variety of backgrounds. There are programs that admit students into graduate study without prior experience as a nurse. When that happens they must have a Baccalaureate in a field other than nursing and are required to complete an accelerated program which incorporates a Bachelors in nursing going straight into a Masters level NP program (Rich, Jorden, &

Development of an Assessment Plan for the Howard Univ College of Article

Development of an Assessment Plan for the Howard Univ College of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Program - Article Example The mission of the Howard University College of Liberal Arts is to provide its graduates with an education that is rooted in â€Å"Pursuit of knowledge, social justice, artistic expression and intellectual freedom† (Howard University, 2013). It seeks to foster creative and critical thinking in artistic and scholarly arenas. Furthermore, it intends on providing solutions to human and social problems. Nurturing cultural diversity is part of its mission. The College intends on building responsibility towards the global community. The assessment plan will dwell on measurement of critical thinking and oral and written communication skills. Since critical thinking has been mentioned as one of the goals in the Liberal Arts College, then the analysis will openly indicate whether this goal is being achieved. Measurement of written and oral communication skills will assist in artistic expression as well as creativity, which are all cited in the College’s mission. They will contri bute towards achievement of the knowledge, intellectual freedom and social justice goals, as well. ... Technical correctness is not such a valuable trait, and using curriculum-specific tests would reinforce it. Instead of such an approach, students need to be tested on their ability to inquire and question various situations. Critical thinking, oral and written communication skills are the parameters that are most relevant to rational inquiry. 2. Tools and Instruments for assessment i) CLA CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment) is designed to measure a range of tertiary competencies that include problem solving, written communication competencies, analytic reasoning and critical thinking. The measurement of such broad abilities makes the assessment applicable to almost all types of colleges. Furthermore, the measures cut across different disciplines. One should note that this is not an assessment of intellect or any content abilities. The test is designed in such a way that it gives students holistic tasks to which they must respond. Some of the tasks may focus on written communication while others dwell on work sample performance. Usually, those questions come from real-world scenarios such as education, policy and daily work practice. The concerned students must employ analytic and critical thinking skills in the situation. They must them communicate these decisions in proper written English and then justify their choices (Hatfield, 2009). Usually, the test is administered online and the responses to the essay-type questions will be scored online through particular software. Humans need to participate in marking the performance- type questions. However, they must have undergone thorough training so as to grade the answers on the basis of certain standards. An example of a task is the argument type assignment, which asks