Profession advanced nurse practitioner

Charge nurses assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required. Includes advance practice nurses such as: nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives, and certified registered nurse anesthetists. Advanced practice nursing is practiced by nurses who have specialised formal, post-basic education and who function in highly autonomous and specialised roles.

Personality Type

• Social / Enterprising

Tasks advanced nurse practitioner

• Supervise nurses and other hospital staff in the unit.
• Monitor symptoms and changes in patients' condition.
• Assess patient health problems and needs.
• Develop, implement and evaluate nursing care plans.
• Create and maintain medical reports and records.
• Assist the patients in daily living activities.
• Administer medication orally, via rectum, subcutaneously and intramuscularly.
• Prepare patients for operations and assist with examinations and treatments.
• Monitor and adjust medical equipment used in patient care and treatment.
• Consult and coordinate with health care team.
• Monitor the quality of patient care.
• Manage the unit, e.g. staffing, financial resources and division of rooms.

Related professions nurse

• Ambulance paramedic
• Children's nurse
• Company nurse
• District nurse
• Hospital nurse
• Intensive care, recovery nurse
• Nurse, all other
• Nursing aid
• Nursing associate professional
• Private nurse
• Psychiatric nurse
• School nurse
• Theatre nurse

Knowledge

• Impact of social contexts on health

  The social and cultural contexts of individuals` behaviours, and the impact on their health within their social and cultural context.

Skills

• Provide treatment strategies for challenges to human health

  Identify possible treatment protocols for the challenges to human health within a given community in cases such as infectious diseases of high consequences at the global level.

• Advise on healthcare users' informed consent

  Ensure patients/clients are fully informed about the risks and benefits of proposed treatments so they can give informed consent, engaging patients/clients in the process of their care and treatment.

• Promote a positive image of nursing

  Present and preserve a positive image of nursing in specific environments of the healthcare and educational spectra.

• Develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship

  Develop a mutually collaborative therapeutic relationship during treatment, fostering and gaining healthcare users' trust and cooperation.

• Make clinical decisions

  Respond to an information need by collecting and analysing available findings to inform clinical decisions.

• Contribute to high level health strategic decisions

  Contribute to decision-making at clinical, management and policy level, such as the allocation of health funds.

• Provide health education

  Provide evidence based strategies to promote healthy living, disease prevention and management.

• Prescribe advanced nursing care

  Prescribe evidence-based therapeutic interventions and medication, actively monitoring the effectiveness of patients treatments.

• Clinical decision-making at advanced practice

  Apply advanced practice with regard to clinical decision-making, managing the caseload for individual patients, families and communities.

• Apply sustainability principles in health care

  Take into account the sustainability principles in healthcare and strive for the rational use of resources.

• Provide professional care in nursing

  Provide professional care, adequate to the health and nursing care needs of the individuals, families and groups, taking into account the scientific developments, as well as the quality and safety requirements established in accordance with the legal/professional conduct regulations.

• Interact with healthcare users

  Communicate with clients and their carer’s, with the patient’s permission, to keep them informed about the clients’ and patients’ progress and safeguarding confidentiality.

• Apply organisational techniques

  Employ a set of organisational techniques and procedures which facilitate the achievement of the goals set. Use these resources efficiently and sustainably, and show flexibility when required.

• Accept own accountability

  Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.

• Contribute to continuity of health care

  Contribute to the delivery of coordinated and continuous healthcare.

• Promote human rights

  Promote and respect human rights and diversity in light of the physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs of autonomous individuals, taking into account their opinions, beliefs and values, and the international and national codes of ethics, as well as the ethical implications of healthcare provision, ensuring their right to privacy and honouring for the confidentiality of healthcare information.

• Adhere to organisational guidelines

  Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.

• Inform policy makers on health-related challenges

  Provide useful information related to health care professions to ensure policy decisions are made in the benefit of communities.

• Conduct research in advanced nursing care

  Identify research priorities in advanced nursing care. Lead, conduct and disseminate research findings that shape and advance nursing practice, education and policy.

• Coordinate care

  Coordinate care for patient groups, being able to manage a number of patients within a given amount of time and provide optimum health services.

• Listen actively

  Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.

• Educate on the prevention of illness

  Offer evidence-based advice on how to avoid ill health, educate and advise individuals and their carers on how to prevent ill health and/or be able to advise how to improve their environment and health conditions. Provide advice on the identification of risks leading to ill health and help to increase the patients' resilience by targeting prevention and early intervention strategies.

• Manage personal professional development

  Take responsibility for lifelong learning and continuous professional development. Engage in learning to support and update professional competence. Identify priority areas for professional development based on reflection about own practice and through contact with peers and stakeholders.

• Deal with emergency care situations

  Assess the signs and be well-prepared for a situation that poses an immediate threat to a person's health, security, property or environment.  

• Diagnose nursing care

  A judgment based on a comprehensive nursing assessment. 

• Comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice

  Apply quality standards related to risk management, safety procedures, patients feedback, screening and medical devices in daily practice, as they are recognized by the national professional associations and authorities.

• Provide nursing advice on healthcare

  Give advice to, instruct and support persons needing nursing care and their attachment figures.

• Apply person-centred care

  Treat individuals as partners in planning, developing and assessing care, to make sure it is appropriate for their needs. Put them and their caregivers at the heart of all decisions.

• Plan advanced nursing care

  Outline the advanced nursing care that needs to be provided to patients and citizens, based on the identified nursing diagnoses and define the monitoring process.

• Implement scientific decision making in healthcare

  Implement scientific findings for evidence-based practice, integrating research evidence into decision making by forming a focused clinical question in response to a recognised information need, searching for the most appropriate evidence to meet that need, critically appraising the retrieved evidence, incorporating the evidence into a strategy for action, and evaluating the effects of any decisions and actions taken.

• Apply nursing care in long-term care

  Enable the promotion and the development of nursing care in long term care, co-morbidity and in situations of dependency in order to maintain individuals’ personal autonomy and relationships with the environment in each moment of the health/illness process.

• Implement nursing care

  Implement nursing care when treating patients in order to improve professional practice.

• Promote inclusion

  Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.

• Delegate activities

  Delegate activities and tasks to others according to the ability, level of preparation, competence and legal scope of practice. Make sure that people understand what they should do and when they should do it.

• Lead healthcare services changes

  Identify and lead changes in healthcare service in response to patient needs and service demand in order to ensure continuous quality improvement of the service.

• Implement policy in healthcare practices

  Establish how policies should be interpreted and translated within the practice, implementing local and national policies, as well as those of your own practice and proposing developments and improvements to service delivery.

• Work in multidisciplinary health teams

  Participate in the delivery of multidisciplinary health care, and understand the rules and competences of other healthcare related professions.

• Diagnose advanced nursing care

  Examine and diagnose advanced nursing care using evidence based therapeutic interventions.

• Manage information in health care

  Retrieve, apply and share information among patients and healthcare professionals and across healthcare facilities and community.

• Empathise with the healthcare user

  Understand the background of clients` and patients’ symptoms, difficulties and behaviour. Be empathetic about their issues; showing respect and reinforcing their autonomy, self-esteem and independence. Demonstrate a concern for their welfare and handle according to the personal boundaries, sensitivities, cultural differences and preferences of the client and patient in mind.

• Follow clinical guidelines

  Follow agreed protocols and guidelines in support of healthcare practice which are provided by healthcare institutions, professional associations, or authorities and also scientific organisations.

• Apply context specific clinical competences

  Apply professional and evidence based assessment, goal setting, delivery of intervention and evaluation of clients, taking into account the developmental and contextual history of the clients, within one`s own scope of practice.

• Prescribe medication

  Prescribe medications, when indicated, for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to the client`s needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice, national and practice protocols and within scope of practice.

• Have computer literacy

  Utilise computers, IT equipment and modern day technology in an efficient way.

• Participate in health personnel training

  Participate in the practical training of health personnel on the basis of the knowledge and skills acquired.

• Work in a multicultural environment in health care

  Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.

• Adapt leadership styles in healthcare

  Adapt leadership styles and approaches to different situations concerning nursing clinical practice and healthcare.

• Ensure safety of healthcare users

  Make sure that healthcare users are being treated professionally, effectively and safe from harm, adapting techniques and procedures according to the person's needs, abilities or the prevailing conditions.

• Develop advanced health promotion strategies

  Identify advanced prevention and health promotion priorities in order to develop and implement relevant strategies within a wider public health agenda.

• Develop plans related to the transfer of care

  Organise transfer of care, when applicable, across a range of healthcare settings, communicating effectively and ensuring that the patient/client and carers are involved in the decision making process.

• Initiate life preserving measures

  Initiate life-preserving actions by taking measures in crises and disaster situations.

• Empower individuals, families and groups

  Empower individuals, families and groups towards healthy lifestyles and self-care.

• Organise homecare for patients

  Organise care to be provided in the house of a patient who is housebound with acute and/or long-term health problems.

• Mentor other health professionals

  Guide, counsel and educate other health professionals about latest practice innovations, act as a mentor and role model, and actively engage in knowledge transfer with patient communities.

• Respond to changing situations in health care

  Cope with pressure and respond appropriately and in time to unexpected and rapidly changing situations in healthcare.

• Implement fundamentals of nursing

  Implement the nursing theoretical and methodological fundamentals and principles, basic nursing interventions on scientific evidence and the resources available.

• Apply health sciences

  Apply a broad range of bio-medical, psycho-social, organisational, educational, and societal aspects of health, disease, and healthcare to improve healthcare services and to improve quality of life.

• Address problems critically

  Identify the strengths and weaknesses of various abstract, rational concepts, such as issues, opinions, and approaches related to a specific problematic situation in order to formulate solutions and alternative methods of tackling the situation.

• Evaluate nursing care

  Evaluate nursing care assessing mechanisms and processes for continuous quality improvement in nursing care, considering the scientific, technical and ethical development.

• Advise on healthy lifestyles

  Promote healthy lifestyles, preventive measures and self-care by strengthening empowerment, promoting health and enhancing behaviours and therapeutic compliance, providing patients with the adequate information in order to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments, medication and nursing care.

• Analyse the care quality

  Analyse the quality of care in order to improve the own professional practice as a general care nurse.

• Use electronic health records in nursing

  Use electronic health records to document nursing assessment, diagnosis, interventions and outcomes based on comparable nursing classification systems and nursing taxonomy.

• Perform health assessment

  Autonomously perform comprehensive health assessment, using professional judgement to refer patients requiring specialist attention to other health professionals and agencies as appropriate.

• Screen patients for disease risk factors

  Carry out examinations on patients in order to detect early signs of illness or risk factors.

• Lead research activities in nursing

  Lead and support nursing research initiatives, working within individual care groups and with other agencies, identifying, applying and disseminating research findings related to specialist nursing.

• Solve problems in healthcare

  Carry out actions, by previously identifying and analysing problems, that facilitate seeking the most beneficial solution for the patient, the family and the community, reaching objectives, improving outcomes and keeping the quality of their work.

• Comply with legislation related to health care

  Comply with the regional and national legislation that is relevant to one`s work and apply it in practice.

• Use e-health and mobile health technologies

  Use mobile health technologies and e-health (online applications and services) in order to enhance the provided healthcare.

• Carry out nurse-led discharge

  Initiate and lead the discharge process of patients, involving all relevant professionals to expedite discharges. Assist bed and capacity management across the whole hospital.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB