Family Nurse Practitioner: A Case Study

The Unique Leadership Role of the Family Nurse Practitioner in a Quantum Era Family nurse practitioners (FNP) are advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) who work independently or in collaboration with other health care professionals to deliver family-focused care. In 2014, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners reported over 205,000 nurse practitioners in practice with nearly 55 percent of all NPs focusing on the family (American Association of Nurse Practitioners [AANP], 2015). Given the broad nature of the “family” patient population concentration, FNPs provide an extensive range of healthcare services that revolve around the family as a whole; from health promotion and disease prevention to direct care and counseling throughout
Quantum thinking encompasses integration of sequential and associative thinking; allowing us to grasp the whole picture. “Quantum thinking is called into play when the unexpected happens, in situations of crisis or opportunity when our rule-bound [serial] and habit bound [associative] thinking can’t cope. In the brain, serial, parallel, and quantum thinking structures are integrated and work in tandem to generate our uniquely human thinking processes (Curtain, 2010, p. 36).” This method of decision-making and problem solving does not necessarily advance in a linear method. For example, it has been noted that administrators’ decision-making and problem solving occasionally encompass judgment and intuition, in addition to logic. Moreover, the integration of serial, parallel, and quantum brain functions is what supports humane or moral thinking processes (Curtain, 2010). With FNPs utilizing a quantum way of thinking, the more traditional way of leadership mixed with contemporary, or adapting leadership can work as one, and keep up with the revolving health care
Managing conflict with clarity and creativity is essential to every level of health care, and is capable of making or breaking a patient’s safety, a community’s trust, and/or an organization’s well-being. Yet, the most common response to conflict is fight (confrontation) or flight (avoidance), as people aim to defeat or avoid stressful conditions. Fight or flight responses to conflict frequently result in significant personal, institutional and financial costs (ARIA Group, 2015). Thus, healthcare leaders must understand the basic concepts of conflict management in order to help all who work in the healthcare field to respond to the change and build stronger more positive relationships (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2015). When dealing with identity- and interest-based conflicts, the ARIA Conflict engagement theory is a helpful tool for NPs to utilize when dealing with conflict. The stages of conflict in ARIA are, antagonism, resonance, invention, and action (ARIA Group,