Abstract In this article, the writer notes that acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) have a growing value within society because of the increasing retirement of the baby boomer population, the advances in disease research that have occurred over the past decade, and the decline in the physician population in the United States. The writer points out that the scope of practice for ACNPs has become broader, therefore, states continue to create laws that support the capabilities of these professionals. The writer maintains that new methods of training and acceptance of the capabilities of ACNPs by legislators and the public have allowed ACNPs to practice in a variety of settings and successfully meet the needs of the populations they serve. The writer also notes that it is evident that the acceptance of ACNPs is not universal and that there are still issues that pertain to prescriptive authority in some states. Finally, the writer concludes that because this field of nursing has been capable of advancing greatly over the past few decades, it is also evident that these concerns will be overcome and that ACNPs will eventually be the primary choice for quality health care in the United States.
Outline:
Introduction
History
Licensure vs. Certification
Scope of Practice
Challenges of the ACNP Role
Relevance of State Practice Acts
Conclusion
From the Paper "Licensure refers to the nurse's ability to pass professional exams that indicate his or her knowledge in the basic areas applied to the profession. The purpose of licensing by all states is to ensure that the individual's knowledge and skills can be minimally trusted and that the person has the ability to assist the public with their health care needs. Licensing is required of all nurses in each state."
"Certification can be accomplished by the nurse practitioner in a specific field related to the occupation. Certification is awarded through the passage of tests, but only tests the knowledge of the individual as it pertains to a specific field of medicine, rather than the entire scope of nursing. Most nurse practitioners are certified in some specialty field."
Abstract In this article, the writer addresses three important themes for the acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) and the clinical nurse specialist (CNS): ethical principles and ethical issues in patient care, professional resources available to help the ACNP, research highlighting the effectiveness of the ACNP and CNS in acute care. The writer also covers five ethical principles that guide the ACNP/CNS in their practice and notes that the move to procedure-based medicine requires the nurse to make more serious life-or-death decisions for the patient than in the past. The writer concludes that whereas the primary burden of patient care decision-making was placed on the physician in the past, the nurse must now weigh various ethical imperatives in order to make the right decision for the patient at the time.
Outline:
Introduction
Ethical Principles for the ACNP and CNS
Nonmaleficence
Utilitarianism
Justice
Fidelity
Veracity
Autonomy
Ethical Issues in Patient Care: Advance Directives
Ethical Issue in Patient Care: Clashing Ethical Requirements
Professional Resources
ACNP/CNS Effectiveness in Acute Care
Patients Spend Less Time in the Hospital
ACPN/CNS' Have Been Given Greater Responsibility
Increasing Cost Pressures Require Greater Nurse Participation
Conclusion
From the Paper "The legal aspects of patient treatment have come to the fore, but should not be regarded as equivalent to ethics issues. Much of what happens in the privacy of the intensive-care suite, the hospice or the general floors happens outside the purview of the medico-legal profession.
"Nurses make decisions today about patient care that they have not had to make in the past. Part of the reason for this is that hospitalized patients, on average, are sicker than they were in the past (mainly due to the shortened stay periods) and the need of physicians to leverage their care decisions with better-educated specialist nurses."
