Aspiring to be an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) is a dream goal for any student nurse in achieving academic excellence and quality nursing practice. Achieving and maintaining a top-notch level by being driven by passion, the ability to make personal decisions, and demonstrating great ambition for career development is a true desire for career development. The journey begins when a student is in school studying for board exams such as graduate record exams and applying for advanced programs (Kopf et al., 2018). After an application for advanced opportunities, an anxious and nervous wait appears while fingers crossed when an interview is due. The purpose of an interview is to allow an interviewee to demonstrate knowledge, abilities, and competencies that are nursing-related through care to patients. Therefore, adequate preparation is appropriate to enable one to display skills, experience, and training. This paper aims to describe the interview results of an advanced practice nurse with one year of experience. Also, the paper will cover a nurse practitioner’s personal history, current practice, APN role competencies, and professional issues.
“Ms. Tess, thank you for making time for this interview. Can you please tell us more about personal history as a Nurse?” Ms. Tess is a twenty-eight-year-old adult gerontology acute care certified nurse practitioner (AGACNP). She has been on course for the last year, practicing her current position as an AGACNP. Ms. Tess got her Master of Science Nursing (MSN) for her post-graduate degree from the University of Texas Health Science at Houston School of Nursing (UTHSC-SON). Ms. Tess stated during the interview that she had an internal motive to be an APN because of four years of experience being a registered nurse in the intensive care unit (UCU). The nurse practitioner stated on the awards that she won about being a devoted and overall excellence winner while Kindred Hospital found in Houston, Texas.
“Ms. Tess tell us more about your current practice?”’ The nurse practitioner expressed she is currently working exclusively in an Advanced Heart Failure unit at Baylor University Medical Center. Her normal workday commences after incurring reports, rounds, and sign-out from her staff colleagues regarding each AHF patient in the unit at 1800. She revealed her role as autonomous since she collaborates with the cardiologist as a backup and the on-call physician in times of emergency and medical review. She takes care of patients who are yet or have had a heart transplant or lung transplant. In addition, the services extend to patients with extracorporeal life support, which entails providing oxygen to those patients whose lungs and hearts are unable to provide enough amount of oxygen in the body resulting in inadequate tissue perfusion.
“Ms. Tess inform the panel about your role competencies?” The nurse practitioner affirmed she is authorized to make a medical diagnosis based on presenting symptoms, physical examination, laboratory tests, and generating of provisional diagnosis. Additionally, she prescribes medications to patients in her unit, as indicated on the Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Practice Protocol for Physicians (PPP). She orders the majority of the medications required by her patients in the AFH unit. Also, the nurse practitioner orders dangerous drugs act, medical devices vital for AFH patients such as arterial lines, dialysis catheters, chest tubes, intubation, and central venous catheters (Kopf et al., 2018). During the interview, she stated she had gained competencies in the scientific foundation. She can integrate practice methods, patient outcomes, and critical thinking.
The nurse practitioner has gained quality competencies since she offers feedback after patient reviews to significant others, making decisions in line with culture. She ascertained to apply therapeutic research findings to nursing practice to reduce patient morbidity and mortality. Ms. Tess reports having technology and information technology competencies because of regular use of digital communication tools, network access, and knowledge to educate practitioner students on how to use and integrate technology and scientific knowledge to take patients. The nurse practitioner is revealed to have health policy competencies by creating and evaluating the organization’s policy. She is part of the analyzing committee responsible for researching the effect of globalization in health care.
“Ms. Tess, can u please tell the panel how you tackle the professional issues in your unit?” The nurse practitioner echoed practicing autonomy by involving patients, family members, and fellow staff colleagues before deliberating on critical decisions affecting the patient. Before performing any procedure, she obtains consent by explaining the patient’s indication, effect, and outcome. Subsequently, she offers respect to working staff and maintains a high level of confidentiality regarding patients’ information.
Conclusion
The interview was lucrative since it had notions learned about a nurse practitioner. The interview views roles of nurse practitioners are highlighted and their implications to the care and outcome of the patient. Additionally, some competencies are discussed and how they are critical in the nursing profession. The interview captures how professional issues are integrated into the profession and how well they can improve the nursing practice. I plan to assess my strengths and weaknesses to explore areas of passion and interest to determine the best nursing practice area that suits my career and offers advanced nurse practice.
Reference
Kopf, R. S., Watts, P. I., Meyer, E. S., & Moss, J. A. (2018). A competency-based curriculum for critical care nurse practitioners’ transition to practice. American Journal of Critical Care, 27(5), 398-406. Web.