COOPER-APN PROFESSIONAL PLAN PAPER.docx - Running head APN...

Running head: APN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN PAPER 1
APN Professional Development Plan Paper
Jennifer Cooper
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR500NP-13084: Foundational Concepts and Advanced Practice Roles
May 2019

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PAPER 2
APN Professional Development Plan Paper
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are an integral part of the healthcare workforce, particularly in
primary care. There are 21 states that NPs have full practice authority meaning they can practice
to the full extent of their education and training without direct physician oversight. In the
remaining 39 states, NPs can practice to their full scope with additions to prescribing
medications and serving as a primary care provider as long as they have a physician practice, or
collaborative agreement[ CITATION Hok17 \l 1033 ].
Advanced practice nurses start their education before they enter into an advanced practice
program. It starts with nursing school and build on those skills with a bachelors program and
then entering graduate school. Competencies that are necessary to survive are physical
assessment skills, interpreting diagnostic test results and learning how to evaluate the
appropriateness of the different medications as well as being able to evaluate the appropriateness
of the medications and the patients' responses to the treatments in a hospital setting as well as a
community setting.
Advanced nurse practitioners have a great responsibility to understand the increasing
demands of the aging population and initiating clinical treatments. Another important role for
NPs is being able to understand the necessity of responding to, and implementing changes to the
healthcare policy and practice if they see a need. There are various leadership styles one could
choose to take on which can produce very different outcomes. We will elaborate on the NP scope
of practice, nurse practitioner competencies and leadership styles as the paper moves forward.
APN Scope of Practice
After graduation, I plan to practice in Iowa as a Nurse Practitioner. According to the Iowa
Board of Nursing, an ARNP may provide various healthcare services to all ages in primary care,

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ambulatory care, acute care and in long term care settings (2019). As a Nurse Practitioner, I
would have to practice based on my educational background and within the standards and
guidelines established by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. In Iowa, NPs are
allowed to have a full access independent practice but may also have a collaborative agreement
with a single physician or group of physicians in case the practice warrants but it is not a
requirement of the Iowa Board of Nursing. There are several services and functions according to
the Iowa Board of Nursing that can be carried out by an ARNP which include but not limited to:
health status assessments, gathering a health and medical history, providing physical exams,
ordering preventive and diagnostic procedures based on patient's age and history, formulating