Question

Using any resources that you can find, identify the difference between nursing practice and advanced practice nursing. Support advanced practice nursing by identifying nursing theories that can be applied to advanced practice nursing.

Need lengthy explanation from a student nurse practitioner's point of view with references

Answer 1

Basic Difference:

"Nursing practices" include treating everyone with the highest level of care and dignity. From looking after the individual needs of the patient, The nursing staff provides care to everyone without any discrimination whatsoever.

The nursing staff is solely responsible for their actions and decisions they take while they provide care to the patient. These decisions are based on patient's requests, requests of family members, and their caretakers. The level of care is such that it meets the expectations of the family and the medical administration.

Nurses always put the patient's care and need above everything else. This is what they are trained for. Nurses are also the main link of communication between the patient and doctor. They assess all the information, maintain confidentiality while handling lab reports, and also deal with complaints effectively which allows the smooth transitioning of providing care to the patient.

"Advanced nursing practices" include the extension of boundaries of basic nursing practices. ANP also includes contributing to nursing knowledge and the advancement of the profession. ANP can be summarized as the integration and application of a wide range of theoretical knowledge along with years of practical experience to provide the best care needed for an individual.

An advanced practice nurse is a specialized nurse who has attained knowledge through additional education with an expert knowledge base, complex decision-making skills required to be an advanced nurse.

Contrary to the general nursing staff, an advanced nursing practitioner is not only responsible for providing care to the patient. They are also assigned with the task of contributing to the advancement of care by sharing their experience and research work which they obtain while dealing with patients. The advanced practice nurses are specialized nurses that deal in special cases and on certain illness.

"Education preparation"

A general nurse is required to have formal nursing education which is a minimum requirement to become a nurse in the field of healthcare. These are not specialized courses and anyone completing this course is appointed as a general nurse.

An advanced practice nurse is required to have a minimum of a Master's degree on top of a basic nursing course. This is the requirement to be eligible for the role of an advanced practice nurse.

"Nature of Practice"

A general nurse is assigned to perform only formal operations such as recording the patient's vitals, maintaining lab records, and looking after the patient's needs and medications, and to provide the doctor with any critical information regarding the patient's health. They are also assigned to communicate with the patient's family and to take notes of any request made by them.

An advanced practice nurse has a designated role that is focused on the prevention of illness, delivering care at a high level, and also looking after the rehabilitation process and any chronic disease management. An advanced nurse is also assigned to conduct researches related to a new form of treatment or any new drug that has been introduced for an illness. They also provide consultation to other healthcare individuals and nurses and emphasize professional collaboration. They plan, coordinate, and implement actions to improve the level of care and treatment provided to the patients.

"Authorization"

General nurses are authorized to:

• Phlebotomy or taking blood for conducting tests.
• maintaining a progress chart of a patient.
• communicating with the patient's family and taking their request.
• relaying any important information regarding the patient to the specialist or the assigned doctor.

Advanced practice nurses are authorized to:

• authorize to diagnose a patient
• prescribe medication
• authorized to order tests and therapeutic treatments
• authorized to refer the patient to a specialized treatment
• authorized to admit or release a patient.

These are some of the few basic differences and ways of working of general nurses and advanced practice nurses.

This gives a brief idea of how different both lines of work are, even though they belong to the healthcare field. APN's are assigned with more specific duties than a general nurse.