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Week 7: APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders
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Week 7: APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders
How healthcare policy can impact the advanced practice nurse profession
The advanced practice nursing profession relies on developments within health policing to shape practice limits. Policy outcomes arising from state and federal health bodies could determine the extent to which advanced practice nurses participate in healthcare improvement in the country. An example of a policing influence on advanced practice nursing is the restriction of autonomy in decision-making that determines how advanced practice nurses (APNs) participate in shaping patient care outcomes (Lopes-Júnior, 2021). Different policing decisions could also determine the criteria for APN practice, with some policies requiring physician-led collaborations to establish strong APN practice.
Why advocacy is considered an essential component of the advanced practice nurse's role
APNs can participate in advocacy efforts to campaign for vulnerable groups in communities. Most of these vulnerabilities are healthcare related and tend to highlight the healthcare disparities caused by poor healthcare policing. APNs' exposure to the healthcare system from a primary care setting to the tertiary level illustrates their experience in understanding patient vulnerabilities (Woo et al., 2017). Therefore, the advocacy efforts of APNs can assist in promoting quality care outcomes by improving access to healthcare resources and personnel among vulnerable groups in communities.
Four pillars of Transformational leadership and the effect they may have on influencing policy change
Transformational leadership operates on four main concepts namely: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. Idealized influence requires leaders to set good examples (Poghosyan & Bernhardt, 2018), and could be
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applied by APNs to portray a commitment to quality healthcare goals in their areas of practice. Inspirational motivation helps to establish clear visions that others can follow (Poghosyan & Bernhardt, 2018), which can be used by APNs to set clear goals for attaining quality care outcomes aligned with health policing goals and objectives. Individualized consideration asserts the need to motivate each follower by promoting their strengths and weaknesses (Poghosyan & Bernhardt, 2018), which could be used by nursing leaders to motivate APNs to pursue continuous professional improvements. Lastly, intellectual stimulation encourages leaders to create avenues for creativity, and innovation (Poghosyan & Bernhardt, 2018), a process that could enable APNs to implement technology use within healthcare settings.
References
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Lopes-Júnior, L. C. (2021). Advanced Practice Nursing and the expansion of the role of nurses in Primary Health Care in the Americas. SAGE Open Nursing, 7, 23779608211019492. https://doi.org/10.1177/23779608211019491.
Poghosyan, L., & Bernhardt, J. (2018). Transformational leadership to promote nurse practitioner practice in primary care. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 1066–1073. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12636.
Woo, B. F. Y., Lee, J. X. Y., & Tam, W. W. S. (2017). The impact of the advanced practice nursing role on quality of care, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost in the emergency and critical care settings: a systematic review. Human Resources for Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-017-0237-9.