NR 506 Week 7 APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders Essay

NR 506 Week 7 APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders Essay

NR 506 Week 7 APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders Essay

Week 7 APNs as Healthcare Policy Leaders

Healthcare policies at the federal, state, and local levels significantly impact the advanced practice nurse (APN) profession by influencing APNs’ scope of practice. Policies dictate what APNs can do in their professional practice, how they do it, the services they are reimbursed for, and the amount reimbursed. Besides, healthcare policies establish the roles and expectations for APNs in clinical practice. Healthcare policies have dictated the APNs’ scope of practice in various states across the US (Kleinpell et al., 2023). For example, some states have enacted policies granting APNs independent practice, while others have policies that restrict their practice by having reduced practice. States with reduced practice have policies that require APRNs to collaborate and have a written protocol with a physician when prescribing medications.

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APNs play a crucial role in impacting health policy through advocacy. They implement health policies and thus have the capacity to influence healthcare systems and organizations to provide better healthcare services to patients. APNs are at the front line of care, which means it often falls to them to translate big-picture health policies and procedures into one-on-one patient interactions. Advocacy is a key component of the APN’s role. APNs are expected to engage in advocacy practices to shape health policy by analyzing existing policies and identifying inefficiencies, missing components, or opportunities to improve the delivery and affordability of care (Kapu, 2022). APNs also propose new policies depending on the needs encountered in day-to-day practice. Furthermore, they meet with policymakers, administrators, and lobbyists to offer clinical insight into policy proposals. APNs are responsible for advocating for patients and nurses to improve access to quality and safe healthcare.

The four pillars of transformational leadership are intellectual stimulation, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. Intellectual stimulation entails transformational leaders encouraging and inspiring creativity and innovation among the organizational members (Steinmann et al., 2018). Individual consideration is about the transformational leader having faith in organizational members because it is through them that the organization can change for the better.

The pillar of inspirational motivation focuses on the leader motivating the members to commit themselves to the vision of the organization, with a passion to facilitate the achievement of the organizational vision. The transformational leader encourages team spirit and a sense of purpose in achieving organizational goals. Idealized influence states that they are an embodiment of values such as trust, respect, and integrity, which organizational members are expected to emulate (Steinmann et al., 2018). The pillars can encourage higher achievement among organization members through exploring new ways of doing things including proposing new policies or amending existing ones. 

References

Kapu, A. N. (2022). Nurse Practitioner (NP) Advocacy and Education: It’s All About Excellence in Health Care!. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 18(2), 135.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2021.12.017

Kleinpell, R., Myers, C. R., & Schorn, M. N. (2023). Addressing Barriers to APRN Practice: Policy and Regulatory Implications During COVID-19. Journal of nursing regulation, 14(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(23)00064-9

Steinmann, B., Klug, H. J. P., & Maier, G. W. (2018). The Path Is the Goal: How Transformational Leaders Enhance Followers’ Job Attitudes and Proactive Behavior. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2338. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02338

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The purpose of this assignment is to discuss the healthcare policy of the APN profession and how Transformational Leadership can help to influence policy changes. This week’s assignment focuses on the APN as a Health Policy Leader, one of the nine NONPF NP competencies. Students will analyze how health policy may affect NP practice and how Transformational Leadership can help to influence policy changes.

Activity Learning Outcomes

Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

Critically analyze how healthcare systems and APRN practice are organized and influenced by ethical, legal, economic, and political factors (CO2)

Demonstrate professional and personal growth concerning the advocacy role of advanced practice nursing in fostering policy within diverse healthcare settings (CO3)

Advocate for institutional, local, national, and international policies that fosters person-centered healthcare and nursing practice (CO4)

Criteria for Content

Explanation of how healthcare policy can impact the advanced practice nurse profession

Explanation of why advocacy is considered an essential component of the advance practice nurse’s role

Discuss the four pillars of Transformational leadership and the effect they may have on influencing policy change

A scholarly resource must be used for EACH discussion question each week.