It is essential to note that APRNs and Advanced Nursing Practice are types of nurses. Although even if Advanced Nursing Practice has sufficient training, experience and a bachelor’s degree, one needs to obtain sufficient certification. This is because one should enhance their knowledge of medicine and nursing practice in order to perform more complex duties. However, the APRN is the highest degree in nursing that does not require additional training. It is important to recognize that to become an APRN nurse practitioner, individuals must be certified, licensed, and have an Advanced Nursing Practice degree (Fauteux et al., 2017). Accordingly, APRN nurses are a highest degree than Advanced Nursing Practice.
Another difference between these APRNs and Advanced Nursing Practices is that APRNs have special training and authorization to make medical decisions. Nurses and Advanced Nursing Practices make physician and APRN assignments. Moreover, APRN nurses have the authority to create care plans and analyze patient data. In turn, Advanced Nursing Practice nurses are involved in the practical implementation of these plans (Fauteux et al., 2017). Similarly, Advanced Nursing Practice nurses specialize primarily in family practice, pediatrics, mental health, and women’s issues. In contrast, the APRN’s scope of practice includes a broader range of specializations. For instance, they are certified nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists or clinical nurse specialists.
Evaluation of New York State’s Population
It is crucial to remark that New York State has four types of nursing practice. However, the most common is the APRN and Advanced Nursing Practice. At the same time, nursing certification in specialties such as oncology, psychiatry, and adult health is available throughout the state. Meanwhile, the New York State population receives a nursing degree in midwifery as a separate specialty. Additionally, statistics indicate that about 400,000 nurses were licensed in New York City in 2020 (Buck, 2021, p. 30). At the same time, they are re-registered every three years by the state Department of Education. Although, only 66 percent of the licensed nurse’s practice in the state. Others were doing nursing work in the United States. The data indicate that per 100,000 of the state’s population, 200 nurses at various levels are reigning (Buck, 2021, p. 30). Moreover, this data does not consider nurses engaged in volunteer nursing.
There is a heterogeneity of nurses in the state who have received APRN and Advanced Nursing Practice degrees. Nearly half of the active nursing workforce reported obtaining or wishing to complete an APRN degree (Buck, 2021, p. 32). However, the highest percentage of the most qualified nurses is concentrated in the northern part of the state. In contrast, the lowest rate is in New York City itself. Thus, the state’s population can access health care through the work of nurses.
Certification
It should be emphasized that the state examination was created when the nursing practice was divided into two groups: registered nursing and advanced practice nursing. At the same time, the Boards of Nursing began assessing the knowledge and abilities of future nurses. APRN certifications are one of the requirements for becoming an advanced practice nurse. Currently, a list of requirements has been formed to become certified (Rantz et al., 2017). Therefore, it is necessary to pass an exam according to a specialty, depending on chosen specialty. Periodically, updating the certificate with repeated tests of knowledge and experience is crucial to ensure proper patient care.
Another requirement that may apply to a person applying for a degree is an additional practice in nursing. The significance of the exams is that they are designed to assess a nurse’s readiness to provide the highest level of care. The questions included in the examination contain information about the specialty and public safety in general (Rantz et al., 2017). A nurse’s career growth depends on certification, which is why most nurses struggle to pass this exam and become licensed to build a successful career. At the same time, it increases their credibility rating; consequently, patients are satisfied with the care and treatment provided by certified nurses.
LACE Model
In order to develop the LACE model, a special working group was created, which consisted of state agencies. In 2008, it was presented to the public to set the various educational, and clinical standards nurses should possess (Buck, 2021). One of the primary goals of the APRN consensus model is to unify the various health care organizations regardless of ownership types. The APRN is designed to identify the role of nurses and professional standards for delivering skilled nursing care. Only the same standards in the U.S. will create an equal opportunity for advanced nursing education (Buck, 2021). The model includes four elements: licensure, accreditation, certification and education. It attempts to standardize and clarify the basic steps in nursing education for advanced degrees.
The LACE model aims to identify best practices, regulatory options, and descriptions of the specialties for which training is provided. It aims to create connections between licensure, accreditation, certification, and education to provide better patient care. The essential components of the LACE model include licensure, that is, granting the right to practice a specialty (Schober, 2018). The other element is accreditation, which is needed to assess the need for a particular specialty. Accordingly, a special agency looks at statistics and rejects programs for which enrollment should be implemented. The third component is certification, which aims to confirm the knowledge and skills needed to provide professional care to patients (Schober, 2018). Finally, education, this segment involves the formal training of professional nurses to obtain diplomas or subsequent certifications.
State-Specific Needs
At the state level, there are fundamental problems associated with nursing. For example, a current primary need in the United States is to increase the number of nurses who can provide professional nursing care. Consequently, there is a growing need for specific nursing knowledge specific to certain medical specialties (Rantz et al., 2017). Factors influencing the increase in this need are the aging of the population, economic problems, and stressful working conditions. The following need that is observed at the state level is the provision of decent working conditions for nurses. This is because nurses suffer from long shifts, low wages, and high workloads (Rantz et al., 2017). Finally, another problem at the state level is nurses’ lack of precisely defined status, making them less critical than physicians. Thus, the right of nurses to prescribe and administer treatment to the patient is not promptly challenged.
Discussion
The continuing education of nurses and obtaining advanced degrees is essential at the individual level. More than once, I have seen cases where nurses provided professional nursing care during the Covid-19 pandemic. They can perform the duties of a physician in an emergency and provide the patient with high-quality maintenance. At the clinical level, it is crucial that nurses have some specialization and can substantially assist physicians (Fauteux et al., 2017). This is especially required in hospitals in rural areas, where there is an insufficient number of physicians. Accordingly, experienced and certified nurses can ensure the proper functioning of a hospital. When I interned at such a hospital, I was amazed at the number of responsibilities nurses have. It is also imperative for nurses to upgrade their own qualifications and have opportunities for career advancement to ensure the professional performance of duties (Fauteux et al., 2017). Therefore, APRNs and Advanced Nursing Practice will solve the problem of insufficient specialists at the state level.
References
Buck, M. (2021). An update on the consensus model for APRN regulation: More than a decade of progress. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 12(2), 23-33.
Fauteux, N., Brand, R., Fink, J. L. W., Frelick, M., & Werrlein, D. (2017). The case for removing barriers to APRN practice. Charting Nursing’s Future, 30, 1-12.
Rantz, M. J., Birtley, N. M., Flesner, M., Crecelius, C., & Murray, C. (2017). Call to action: APRNs in US nursing homes to improve care and reduce costs. Nursing Outlook, 65(6), 689-696.
Schober, M. (2018). Global emergence of nurse practitioner/advanced practice nursing roles. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(4), 182-184.