Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
The Doctor of Nursing practice is a practice doctorate as opposed to the other doctorate that is the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing or PhD. What this means is that the advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) that obtain it will be engaged in clinical practice in one of the US states. The training of a DNP nurse and that of a PhD nurse differs in significant ways because PhD-prepared nurses are nurse educators who have been exposed to less practical clinical training. The DNP-prepared nurse is expected to assess patients, diagnose them, and treat them with medication as well as other non-pharmacotherapeutic interventions (Beeber et al., 2019; McCauley et al., 2020; Newland, 2019). It is for this reason that family nurse practitioners (FNPs) and psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) amongst others are DNP-prepared. They are engaged in clinical practice seeing patients on a daily basis in the same way that a physician does. Theirs is an important service in that they provide. Their clinical services are given within the context of primary health care (PHC) to vulnerable and marginalized populations at an affordable cost but with the same quality as those of a physician. The DNP-prepared nurse can practice in a full practice authority (autonomy of practice) state, reduced practice state, or restricted practice state. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three important DNP essentials and how they align to the completion of a DNP project. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
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The Most Congruent DNP Essentials for the Completion of a DNP Project
The umbrella organization for nursing education stakeholders including all the schools that offer nursing education is the American Association of Colleges of Nursing or AACN. Its mission is to promote the training of nurses in a scientific, orderly, and formal way equipping them with necessary skills and competencies. As a professional body, the AACN has come up with many tools that enable it to achieve its mission. One of these tools is the AACN DNP essentials which are eight in total (AACN, 2006; DeCapua, n.d.). The DNP essentials are targeted at DNP-prepared nurses to enable them acquire some very particular competencies only a DNP-prepared nurse has to possess. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
I have selected three AACN DNP essentials that best align to the completion of a DNP project at the highest level. These are:
- Information systems and patient care technology for transforming care quality.
- Scientific basis for practice.
- Interprofessional collaboration for improving health outcomes. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Information Systems
Information systems and patient care technology for transforming care quality as an AACN DNP essential aligns beautifully with the completion of a DNP project. This is because innovative healthcare technologies have proven to be of invaluable assistance in improving the quality of patient care and preventing errors that jeopardize the safety of patients. As a DNP-prepared nurse, the clinician is expected to be well versed with the essentials of healthcare technology and this factor needs to be incorporated into any project that the DNP-prepared nurse undertakes. In other words, since practice in the real world will require the DNP-prepared nurse to capture and store patient information in an electronic format, this AACN DNP essential makes sure that they are capable of doing this (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Scientific Basis for Practice
Clinical practice for the DNP-prepared nurse is underpinned by sound scientific concepts and guided by tried and tested theoretical frameworks. This other AACN DNP essential is also fit for the completion of a DNP project in that these projects themselves must be explained by replicable scientific facts. The current gold standard for practice for all clinicians including the DNP-prepared nurse is what has been called evidence-based practice or EBP (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019). Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
EBP is best practice since it advocates for the use of only treatment solutions and interventions that have scholarly scientific peer-reviewed and published literature backing their efficacy. Finding this evidence takes a scientific process that is well thought out. It is called clinical inquiry and involves the identification of a practice problem through gap analysis, formulation of a PICOT question, a search of electronic databases, retrieval of evidence, critical evaluation of evidence, dissemination of practice recommendations, and translation into practice (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019). This aligns perfectly with any DNP project since it is very definition of clinical practice. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Interprofessional Collaboration
The DNP-prepared nurse will practice within an environment that also has other professionals from other disciplines. In order to be successful in clinical practice and to realize expected patient outcomes all the time, they will need to be skilled in interprofessional collaboration. This basically means communicating with and consulting other disciplines involved in the care of our patient. For instance, asking for advice on the suitable exercise regime for an obese person from a physical therapist. The ACN DNP practice essential aligns with the completion of a DNP project because such a project needs to have the component of interprofessional collaboration to help the nurse practice the skill. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Conclusion
The DNP-prepared nurse is destined to be a clinician who assesses, diagnoses, and treats patients. There are essentials or competencies that have been proposed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and referred to as AACN DNP essentials. This paper has discussed the alignment of three of these to the completion of a DNP project.
Describe the 3 AACN DNP Essentials that most align to the completion of a Doctoral Project. Note: This is in general terms, not in relation to a particular quality improvement or organizational goal. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Explain how the AACN DNP Essentials will relate to the completion of a Practicum/Field Experience. Be specific.
AACN Essentials for the Doctorally Prepared Nurse
[The AACN DNP] Essentials outline the foundational competencies that are core to all advanced practice roles, including the four nationally-recognized Advanced Practice Registered Nursing roles: nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives.
— American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2006)
What does it mean to be a DNP-prepared nurse? What core function of advanced nursing practice do you hope to practice upon completion of your DNP? How will earning a DNP enhance your nursing practice? Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay
Questions such as these may represent some underlying consideration that led you to pursue a DNP. In your role as a DNP-prepared nurse, you will likely be called upon to perform advanced nursing practice skills that not only enhance patient care but will impact the delivery of healthcare, organizational standards, and quality improvement initiatives.
This week, you consider the role of a nurse with a practice doctorate, including the expectations associated with obtaining a DNP degree. You reflect on your personal motivations for pursuing a doctoral degree and begin to examine how your proposed Doctoral Project and practicum/field experience will align to the AACN DNP Essentials. Linking Areas of Focus Into Future Plans For The DNP Essay