04 Jan Role of DNP prepared Nurse

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by suggesting an additional perspective on what it means to be a nurse with a practice doctorate, offer support to the expectations with obtaining the degree that your colleague posted, or expand upon your colleague’s post.Discussion 1:

 

 

Introduction

 

 

A Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a terminal degree for advanced practice nurses planning to advance their theoretical and practical knowledge to provide efficient direct patient care or work in leadership and administration. DNP degrees are associated with higher expectations, but they allow nurses to pursue careers in all areas of the healthcare industry and develop and lead interventions to address practice changes.

 

 

Role of DNP prepared Nurse

 

 

A DNP-prepared nurse has more comprehensive responsibilities than nurses with other degrees, such as a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). Nurses with MSN and DNP degrees have advanced decision-making skills and enough knowledge and expertise to complete challenging medical procedures (Maryville University, n. d.). Besides, both of them can efficiently communicate with their colleagues and become motivating and thoughtful leaders. Nevertheless, the DNP degree allows nurses to pursue more prestigious leadership, organizational, and decision-making roles (Maryville University, n. d.). MSN programs focus on developing the medical skills of nurses, and DNP degrees provide the same training and cover nursing leadership, employee management, and statistical analysis (Maryville University, n. d.). Also, DNP nurses’ academic coursework concentrates on evidence-based practice and data research. DNP-prepared nurses should understand the connection between the healthcare industry and the changing social, political, economic, and cultural life spheres and learn to adapt to healthcare advances and the world’s changes (Maryville University, n. d.). Therefore, the DNP-prepared nurse is expected to possess a more advanced understanding of the healthcare industry and theory than the MSN-prepared nurse. The educational and practical background of DNP-prepared nurses allows them to act as team leaders, educators, and project managers, resolve health system navigation issues, respond to quality and safety problems, and use an evidence-based approach to address gaps in nursing practice.

 

 

My motivation and addressing gaps.

 

 

The comprehensive education and the scope of responsibilities associated with DNP degrees have impacted my motivation to pursue a DNP. A DNP degree is not required for working as a Registered Nurse (RN) or an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), but it provides extensive professional opportunities and allows pursuing a career in direct patient care, nursing education, leadership, and administration. Besides, I strive to expand my knowledge and expertise to become an outstanding nursing professional, and the DNP degree is the best choice to achieve this goal. As a DNP-prepared nurse, I could also contribute to implementing a practice change in the organization. For instance, I could use my knowledge of the healthcare system and research skills to identify and analyze a challenge that negatively influences the nurses’ productivity in clinical care. Next, I could develop an intervention to resolve the issue and lead research on its effectiveness (Tussing et al., 2018). My study will provide the necessary evidence to support the recommended practice change and present it to organizational leaders. My advanced administration skills will also allow me to estimate the resources required to implement the change and assess the intervention’s benefits for the organizational future. I have already participated in addressing a gap in practice, as I helped optimize the nursing schedule to reduce fatigue and medical errors among nurses. It was a valuable experience that advanced my research, analytical, and planning skills, but I lacked the expertise to lead the intervention personally. I believe that DNP studies will help me gain more confidence in organizing and leading practice change in my future career.

 

 

Conclusion.

 

 

The DNP degree will enhance nursing professionals and contribute to better nursing practice. I plan to use knowledge and expertise obtained during my DNP studies to address gaps in nursing practice and promote change to advance patient care and reduce healthcare costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Maryville University. (n. d.). MSN vs. DNP: Exploring the differences. Maryville University. https://online.maryville.edu/online-masters-degrees/master-science-nursing/resources/dnp-vs-msn/.

 

 

Tussing, T. E., Brinkman, B., Francis, D., Hixon, B., Labardee, R., & Chipps, E. (2018). The impact of the Doctorate of Nursing Practice nurse in a hospital setting. Spotlight on Leadership, 48(12), 600-602. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000688.

 

 

 

 

Discussion 2:

Role of Nurse with DNP

 

Nursing has evolved in so many ways, there are various branches that one can decide to focus on based on their interest and passion. DNP-prepared nurse roles are grouped into three categories; clinical role, execute role, and administrative role (Beeber et al., 2019). DNP nurse can use their acquired skills and knowledge to improve both academic and organizational roles. The DNP-prepared nurse can impact an organization positively by using evidence-based practice, analyzing and translating data, taking the role of a leader both formal and informal to effect change, contributing to nursing education, reviewing policies, and advocating/implementing policies to effect change positively.

 

Expectation

 

As a DNP-prepared nurse, my expectation is to use the knowledge acquired to solve complex issues, be innovative, create/improve the method of health care delivery by incorporating evidence-based practice, using technologically friendly designs which is cost-effective and efficient.

 

DNP degree is different from other degrees in so many ways. As a DNP nurse, you are automatically a leader whether formal or informal. You are expected to solve problems, be innovative and be in a constant mode of developing ways to help build and transform the face of the organization positively. DNP-prepared nurses are often expected to serve complex clients. McCauley et al. (2020) state “With care continuously increasing in complexity, and demands on the nursing leaders growing exponentially, DNP prepared nurses are demonstrating in real-time that the program of study provides the ideal breadth and depth of preparation for today’s workplace realities”. Other degree holders don’t have the leadership responsibilities that are expected from DNP nurses. Even though they may serve in other aspects of a leadership role in an organization, less demand may be placed on them when it comes to patient care as compared to DNP-prepared nurses.

 

Motivation

 

My motivation to be a DNP-prepared nurse was to effect positive change in the community by consulting with policymakers and stakeholders to review policies and address ways to improve the health care delivery system by fairly distributing resourcing to the underserved populations.

 

Gultekin, Brush, and Ginier (2019) reports that over 1.3 million school-age children were homeless in 2019, their ages range between 5-18 years old. Seeing a child as young as 5 years old being homeless is heartbreaking. If things are not changed or done immediately the outcome of these children will affect society greatly. Being homeless at that very young age puts the children at risk for poor health, malnutrition, abuse, exposure to drugs, mental health issues, violence, early pregnancy and so many more. As a PMHNP/DNP student serving in the underprivileged community, most of my clients are homeless. Some of the measures that we have put in place are reaching out to the clients by following up with them in the community, finding them housing, putting them in rapid re-housing before finding them permanent homes/foster care. The most challenging problem we face is that the clients keep changing their location due to the city asking them to move. Hence keeping up with them to stay on their medications/treatment can be difficult. Another issue is the lack of transportation to get to the clinic for their appointment due to no income/money to catch the bus/cab to get to the clinic. One of the biggest problems is substance/alcohol abuse. These youths/kids are exposed to drugs/alcohol at a very young age and most of them go through both sexual and physical abuse.

 

In the community that I serve, there’s an organization called Lifeworks, their mission is to break cycles of instability in the youth by providing support & building a community system that makes it a point that youth homelessness is brief, rare, and non-recurring. (Lifeworks, n.d.). They provide them with counseling, housing, education, and place them in the workforce. The organization that I worked with has partnered with them to help get the youth and young adults of the streets.

 

Conclusion

 

As DNP prepared nurse and with my years of experience in the nursing field, I have to use the knowledge, skills, and evidence-based practices to address current health issues to improve society. Giardino & Hickey (2020) concluded in their research that DNP nurses learn beyond what they thought possible, and are encouraged to move forward in the profession as leaders and innovators to improve patient care at all levels of health care system.

 

References

 

Beeber, A.S., Palmer, C., Waldrop, J., Lynn, M. R., & Jones C.B. (2019). The role Doctor of

 

Nursing Practice-prepared Nurse of Practice Settings. Nursing Outlook,47(4),354-

 

364.http://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2019.02.006

 

McCauley. L.A., Broome, EM., Frazier, L., Hayes, R., Kurth, A., Musil,

 

C.M.,…Norman,L.D.(2020).Doctor of nursing practice(DNP)degree in the United

 

States: Reflecting, readjusting, and getting back on track. NursOutlook:68(4):494-

 

503.Retrived from doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2020.03.008

 

Giardino,E.R., &Hickey,J.V.(2020).Doctor of Nursing Practice. Students’ Perceptions of

 

Professional Change through the DNP program. Journal of

 

ProfessionalNursing,36(6),595-603.http://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2020.08.012

 

Gultekin,L.E., Brush,L.B.,Ginier,E.(2019).Health Risks and Outcomes of Homelessness in

 

School-Age Children and Youth: A Scoping Review of the Literature. The Journal of

 

School Nursing. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.177/105984051985182

 

Lifeworks. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lifeworksaustin.org