APN Function/Core Competencies Paper

APN Function/Core Competencies The interviewee said that her practice is mostly providing direct care to the patients. She also sought consultation from infectious diseases department, physical therapy, and orthopedics for patients with different issues. She collaborated with physicians, nurses, case managers, case coordinators, and therapists to manage patient care. The interviewee stated that she did not participate or lead any formal research projects in her career. However, she mentioned that she keeps up to date with new knowledge and information through her continuing education using Medscape. She also attended several nurse practitioner conferences in various states as a part of her continuing professional development. She fulfilled her leadership role by being an important resource person to the department. She denied assuming any formal leadership role in her professional career. She said that she had trained and coached university nursing students in the past. Current department policies did not allow her to precept any students. The interviewee denied facing major ethical decision making dilemmas. She stated that she had been working in her current department as an NP for more than 20 years and the patients she treats are not critical. She denied being in the middle of critical life and death situations in her professional practice. The interviewee stated that whenever there was a conflict,
be it a staff matter or patient related conflict, she tried to assess the whole situation by being calm and looking at all the causes of the conflict to solve it. She said that she had been very aware culturally and always tried to learn different cultures through languages and asking questions. She said one of the greatest challenges over the past decade had been to achieve independence regarding practicing to the full scope of her training and education. However, she stated that the situation for NPs was getting better in the institution she worked for.
Legal/Ethical Issues The interviewee stated that in her practice, she had to deal with numerous cases of work related injuries and compensation.
In these cases, charting was a very important part of the care provided by her. Per her, improper charting and incompetent care could have potentially led to legal ramifications for her and the institution. She also addressed some of the ethical issues by stating that in her practice, she made sure that she didn’t release the patient information to the party that was not directly involved in that patient’s care.
Conclusion In this interview, the APN addressed all the aspects of her professional career from her personal history and education to the current practice as well as APN core functions and the legal issues.