Advanced registered nursing graduates are entering the profession at dynamic time when roles and scope of practice are shifting based on developments in legislation and policy in response to the evolving needs of the health care system. Professional nursing organizations play an important role in making sure the perspectives of advanced registered nurses are heard, and in supporting nurse specialties in their efforts to expand their scope of practice and their full participation throughout the health care system.

For this assignment, you will conduct research on the current scope of practice for your specialty and efforts that are being made to expand that scope and the role of the advanced nurse in positively influencing the health care system. Write a 1,250-1,500-word paper that includes the following:

A discussion of the scope of your future role as an advanced registered nurse, including any regulatory, certification, or accreditation agencies that define that scope.
A discussion of three professional nursing organizations that you think are most influential in advancing the scope and influence of advanced nursing. Of these organizations, evaluate the one that you would most like to join. How do its goals and mission fit in with your worldview and philosophy of care? How might membership in this organization improve your practice?
A discussion of a controversial or evolving issue that is most likely to affect your scope of practice or role in the next few years. How do you think this issue could influence the profession and other stakeholders, and why does it matters to the advanced registered nurse?
You are required to cite five to 10 sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.  Role and Professional Obligations Essay Paper

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Future Scope, Role and Professional Obligations

A discussion of the scope of your future role as an advanced registered nurse, including any regulatory, certification, or accreditation agencies that define that scope.

Similar to other professions, the nursing profession offers career advancement opportunities that are centered in gaining experience and acquiring higher levels of education. It is this awareness that has garnered my interest in gaining an advanced registered nurse (ARN) qualification and ultimately practicing as a nurse educator. I have an interest in developing the next batch of nurses and believe that practicing as a nurse educator will allow me to present nurses capable of providing high quality services. In the role of a nurse educator, I will be able to engage individuals aspiring to be nurses and persons who are practicing as nurses, and help them to improve their competence, skills and knowledge levels to take on greater professional responsibilities. In qualifying as an ARN, I will be able to practice as a nurse educator as well as provide primary care to patients (Zaccagnini White, 2017).

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As a nurse educator, my scope of practice will be determined by two main factors. The first factor is the regulations. Like other professions, nurse educators are subject to regulatory requirements to ensure that they are competent enough to provide the required level of service in terms of educating nurses and providing professional nursing services. There are professional bodies that police the conformity with the regulatory requirements and ensure that an individual is competent enough to practice at the level. The regulatory requirements are presented as licensure, accreditation and certification needs (Butts & Rich, 2018).

The second factor is the educational background. There are minimum educational requirements for qualification as an ARN and to practice as a nurse educator. In order to educate nurses, the educator’s education level must be at least a level higher than the students. Having a higher level of education is important since it allows for greater proficiency and knowledge levels, and familiarity with professional nursing concepts. Besides that, having a background in education (having attended education courses) would be considered important as they help with transferring knowledge to students (Butts & Rich, 2018).

There are two agencies that define the scope of practice for nurse educators. The first agency is the Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA), an organization that accredits nurse educators. CNEA receives its authority from the National League for Nursing (NLN). The mandate of CNEA is to accredit nurse educators as capable of providing education services that focus on the core values of caring, excellence, integrity and diversity (National League of Nursing, 2020). The second agency is the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), an organization that provides certification services to nurse educators. NCCA receives its authority from the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). The mandate of NCCA is to certify nurse educators and police them on the basis of the most current profession practice standards (National League of Nursing, 2020).

A discussion of three professional nursing organizations that you think are most influential in advancing the scope and influence of advanced nursing. Of these organizations, evaluate the one that you would most like to join. How do its goals and mission fit in with your worldview and philosophy of care? How might membership in this organization improve your practice?

The three professional nursing organization that are most influential in advancing the scope and influence of advanced nursing are the NLN, the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN), and the American Association for Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The first organization, NLN, is a national professional organization whose members are comprised of nurses. The organization primarily focuses on ensuring the maintenance of nursing excellence without compromise. Membership in NLN allows an ARN to access professional development opportunities. The organization manages testing services, offers research grants and provides teaching resources to its members. Besides that, the organization sets the credentialing needs for ARN in the professional practice environment (National League of Nursing, 2020).

The second organization, OADN, is a national professional organization that represents ARN and advocates for their interests. The organization draws its members from among nurses with associate degree nursing qualification to include ARNs. It primarily focuses on promoting the idealized future for nurses while enhancing the quality of education for nurses and strengthening their professional roles. In addition, the organization acts as a platform that unifies nurses by presenting them with information and supporting networking opportunities through partnerships with other organizations that have similar interests (Organization for Associate Degree Nursing, 2020).

The third organization, AACN, is a national professional organization that is focused on the delivery of high quality nurse academics through spearheading improvement efforts. The organization is especially focused on promoting ARN education, research and practice. Its primary responsibility is to improve nursing care delivery through the establishment of quality standards that practitioners must observe in nursing education (American Association for Colleges of Nursing, 2020).

Between the three organizations that have been discussed, the most important organization to an ARN is the NLN. This organization was formed in 1893 and is considered the oldest professional nursing organization. The membership roster for the organization includes 37,000 nurses and 1,200 institutions that have affiliations to nurses. The large membership makes this organization very influential as it is able to represent its large numbers of members. In addition to drawing membership from nurses in the USA, the organization draws membership from nurses in other countries. The organization reports that its primary mission is to promote the excellence of the education of nurses. It pursues the mission by building a diverse and strong nurse workforce with the capacity to advance relevant agenda at all levels to include local, state, federal, regional and global levels. Unlike OADN and AACN, NLN draws its members from the USA and other countries across the world with the other two organizations only drawing their members from the USA. The global reach enables the NLN to capitalize on diversity as a significant resource (National League of Nursing, 2020).

Members of the NLN expect significant exposure to and contact with nurses from within and outside the USA. This helps in expanding knowledge levels and improving awareness of nurse diversity. In addition, the NLN provides testing and assessment services, development programs, networking opportunities and research grants that are important for nurses as they help with professional development and growth. Although the organization has been in existence for 127 years, it still remains current by revising its objectives, operations, mandate and mission. The NLN has continued to improve, expand and enhance professional nursing services (National League of Nursing, 2020).

Being a member of the NLN would offer me access to the large network of nurses and resources that it manages. The organization’s goals and mission fit in my worldview and philosophy of care. NLN has continued to evolve in order to remain relevant. As a member of the organization, I can use the organization’s evolution as a blueprint to similarly evolve and remain current. In addition, the organization presents access to a large network of nurses from across the world with many career and professional opportunities. Besides that, the organization offers research and education opportunities that will be useful for improving professional competencies and capabilities.

A discussion of a controversial or evolving issue that is most likely to affect your scope of practice or role in the next few years. How do you think this issue could influence the profession and other stakeholders, and why does it matters to the advanced registered nurse?

An evolving issue that is most likely to affect the scope of practice of ARN is the concept of independent practice. Currently, nurses are not allowed to practice independently and are mostly required to practice under the supervision of a physician using collaborative agreements. This is a controversial issue since the current state of affairs sees nurses not allowed to practice to the full extent of their knowledge, skills, competencies and capabilities. The current policies that restrict the practice of ARN are considered as barriers that limit nurses. These policies are facing much attention, especially in the current of medical personnel shortages that are limiting health care access (Joel, 2018). The proposal has been presented that ARN should be allowed to set up independent practice because they are capable of doing so and they can help to improve health care access. Making the policy change would offer more practice opportunities for ARN and expand their scope of practice by allowing them to initiate and manage medication, evaluate patients, conduct diagnoses, and order and interpret diagnostic tests. Full practice authority for ARN can improve health care access, quality and utilisation, and provider supply while reducing costs (Joel, 2018).

References

American Association for Colleges of Nursing (2020). About AACN. https://www.aacnnursing.org/About-AACN

Butts, J., & Rich, K. (Eds.) (2018). Philosophies and Theories for Advanced Nursing Practice (3^rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Joel, L. (2018). Advanced Practice Nursing: Essentials for Role Development (4^th ed.). F.A. Davis Company.

National League of Nursing (2020). About. http://www.nln.org/about

Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (2020). About OADN. https://www.oadn.org/about-us/about-oadn

Zaccagnini, M., & White, K. (Eds.) (2017). The Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials: A New Model for Advanced Practice Nursing (3^rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.  Role and Professional Obligations Essay Paper