Assignment: Nursing Roles Graphic Organizer

Assignment: Nursing Roles Graphic Organizer

	Clinical Nurse Specialist	Nurse Practitioner	Observations (Similarities/Differences)
Ethics	Clinical nurse specialist are required to observe ethical principles when dealing with patients. Indeed, they are required to act as advocates of patients and protect them even as they offer their services (DeNisco & Baker, 2016).	The ethical perspective of nurse practitioners is one that can be described as unique due to the expanded practice of these professionals. They act in many ways that are indicative of tough decisions. Thus, their ethical decision-making balances the principles of legalities and morals in analysis and in most cases need moral courage. Thus, while making decisions, nurse practitioners strive to preserve moral courage and prevent moral distress normally correlated with controversial situations.	The ethical comparison of the two areas reveal certain similarities and differences. Both nurses are faced with untenable situations when presented with an ethical decision. However, whereas nurse practitioners strive to reduce moral distress, clinical nurse specialists are expected to protect the patient in those decisions.
Education	The educational requirement for nurse specialists is a minimum of MSN.	Concerning nurse practitioners, the educational requirement entails a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) as a minimum qualification. In future, a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) may become necessary	Thus, the MSN degree requirement is common to the two areas. Nevertheless, nurse practitioners may be required to advance their education.
Leadership	The Institute of Medicine report recommended that clinical nurse specialists should assume leadership roles and guide personnel and the entire health care system so as to improve patient outcomes (Porter-O’Grady, & Malloch, 2016). The reason for this is that they work in systems, influence them, collaborate with personnel and thus have the capacity to reach relatively more patients so as to introduce improvement approaches.	Nurse practitioners, by virtue of their educational background, play an important leadership role in the execution of evidence-based practice (DeNisco & Baker, 2016). They fundamentally lead the reform process of the health care system by influencing them to adopt recommendations from PhDs. Thus, their role extends to the creation of health care policy reforms and their subsequent implementation.	It is safe to say that both nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists play important leadership roles in terms of improving the quality of patient care. However, whereas the former primarily do this at the policy level, the latter do this at the clinical setting level via directing staff to implement certain changes.
Public Health	Clinical nurse specialists use their experience, education, and perspectives to spearhead advocacy and then policy setting at among others community level. They adopt a leadership style that is based on empowerment and have a broad influence within such communities (Porter-O’Grady, & Malloch, 2016). The essentially specialize as public/community health nurses.	Nurse practitioners also utilize their education to influence policy at the community level. According to Fooladi (2015), they address the public health needs of communities via home visits, wellness clinics, and establishing associations that can stop severe health situations before they unfold.	In all these roles, the common trend is the role of these nurses in improving the wellness of their communities. They both have influence over their communities and use this influence plus established relationships to prevent outbreak of diseases.
Health Care Administration	The role of clinical nurse specialists in health care administration is limited. However, they work in collaboration with administrators in order to improve patient care especially when they are strategically positioned. The closest clinical nurse specialists have come to administrators is when they are assigned to supervise their fellow nurses (DeNisco & Baker, 2016).	Nurse practitioners also play limited role in health care administration. Owing to their education level, they can help in the formulation of hospital policy for purposes of improving patient care. However, they can also design policies related to human resources within an organization.	Hence, both clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners have limited roles in health care administration. The only way that they can participate in the management of hospitals is through collaboration with administrators to improve the quality of care and their own positioning to achieve that.
Informatics	Clinical nurse specialists use informatics to improve the work environment and practice through application of informatics (Murphy,  Goossen, & Weber, 2017). These nurses are significant as they influence nurses to adopt information technology in practice thus improving care.	When it comes to nurse practitioners, they use informatics to access best evidence-based information as well as informational tools (Murphy, Goossen, & Weber, 2017). Further, nursing informatics also helps nurse practitioners to easily relay information and also protect themselves and patients through the use of aspects such as telemedicine, e-prescribing, and internal messaging system among others.	Again, the two nursing areas use informatics to improve patient care. Whereas clinical nurse specialists ensure that information technology aspects related to patient care are adopted by nurses to improve patient care, nurse practitioners actually use informatics to undertake their duties.
Business/Finance	Clinical nurse specialists engage in the management of patients and not human resources. Thus, they do not need to have any business or financial competencies and their curriculum do not cater for this.	On the other hand, nurse practitioners may require to have business/finance competencies. This allows them to be prepared to manage resources involving employees. By taking part in workforce planning, business/finance acumen will enable them to plan properly so as to enhance employee satisfaction.	While clinical nurse specialists do not require any finance/business knowledge, these skills become indispensable to nurse practitioners due to the fact that they may use them in administrative roles. .
Specialty (e.g., Family, Acute Care)	Clinical specialist nurses are specialized in the following areas of care: Community-public health, Pediatric critical care, Home health, Adult gerontology, Adult-gerontological health, and Adult-gerontological critical care,	On the other hand, nurse practitioner are specialized in the following areas: Women’s health, Neonatal, Pediatric primary, Gerontology primary, Pediatric acute, Family primary, Adult-gerontology primary, Adult primary, Adult psychiatric-mental health, and Adult-gerontology acute.	Both nurses work specialize in adult gerontology care and pediatric critical care. However, clinical specialist nurses work with home health, and community public health cases whereas nurse practitioners do not.
Regulatory Bodies or Certification Agencies That Provide Guidance or Parameters on How These Roles Incorporate Concepts Into Practice	Certification in this area of nursing occurs via the American Nurses Credentialing Center depending on the specialty. Nevertheless, not all of the CNS specialties have their certification exam.	For NPs, certification occurs through either the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners or the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).	Thus, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners certifies both nurses. However, NPs can also be certified by American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, something that CNS do not enjoy.

References

DeNisco, S. M., & Baker, A. M. (2016). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the      profession (3 ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Fooladi M. M. (2015). The Role of Nurses in Community Awareness and Preventive Health. International journal of community based nursing and midwifery, 3(4), 328-9.

Murphy, J., Goossen, W., & Weber, P. (2017). Forecasting Informatics Competencies for Nurses in the Future of Connected Health: Proceedings of the Nursing Informatics Post Conference 2016. Amsterdam: IOS Press, Incorporated

Porter-O’Grady, T. & Malloch, K. (2016). Becoming a professional nurse. ( 2nd ed.), Leadership in nursing practice: Changing the lanscape of healthcare Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Nurse Practitioner (NP) Nurse Leader Observations (Similarities/Differences)
Ethics The role of an NP is to provide the best possible patient care while at the same time advocating for patients’ interests. In their practice, NPs ought to uphold the ethical standards of beneficence, non-maleficence by providing the care that will best benefit a patient (Grace, 2017). NPs also have the role of ensuring that the patients’ rights are respected and that there is justice in the delivery of healthcare (Grace, 2017).

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The primary goal of a nurse leader is to promote safe, quality healthcare by applying excellence in nursing practice. Nurse leaders have the role of upholding professional ethics in their practice and ensuring that the same n the healthcare team. It is a nurse leader’s role to promote the ethical principle of respecting the right to autonomy by allowing patients to make decisions that affect their health (Grace, 2017). Besides, they are responsible for patient safety and are therefore expected to promote the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence to ascertain that patients receive the most appropriate care (Grace, 2017). The ethical role of an NP and nurse leader is similar in that they are both mandated to uphold the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, and the right to autonomy. Besides, they are mandated to promote ethics in the healthcare team during the delivery of patient care and ensuring that patients receive the best quality care.
Education For one to enroll in an NP education program, a valid registered nurse license and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing are mandatory (Forsberg et al., 2015).
An NP should have completed a Master’s of Science in Nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice program in either adult-gerontology, family health, neonatal care, pediatric health, psychiatric/mental health, or women’s health Forsberg et al., 2015).

A valid RN license and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing are required to enroll in the clinical nurse leader program (Kaack et al., 2018).
A nurse leader should have completed a Master’s in Clinical nurse leader program. Both nurse leaders and NP programs require a prerequisite of a valid RN license and a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. The minimum educational requirement in both specialties is a Master’s degree.
However, while the NP specialty requires either a Master’s or a Doctor of Nursing, the nurse leader specialty requires only a Master’s degree.
The NP specialty has six different training programs while a nurse leader specialty has one training program.

Leadership NPs have both clinical and leadership roles. Clinical roles are those that involve diagnosing, treating, and referring patients. Leadership roles include leading other healthcare professionals in patient care in units with no nurse leaders. (Elliott, 2017) Besides, they guide other nurses, such as RNs, LPNs, and CNAs, in designing patient care plans to promote better health outcomes.

A nurse leader has a leadership role in the clinical area and leads the healthcare team composed of RNs, NPs, doctors, and other professionals in providing patient care (Kaack et al., 2018). A nurse leader deals with the operational aspects of nursing, such as direct care nursing, healthcare administration, risk reduction, cost management, and strategies for improving patient care (Kaack et al., 2018).
In addition, nurse leaders delegate and manage nursing resources and take the role of a leader and partner of the interdisciplinary healthcare team (Kaack et al., 2018). NPs and nurse leaders have similar leadership roles, which involve leading the multidisciplinary

team when providing patient care. Nevertheless, nurse leaders have a major leadership role than NPs.
Public Health NPs play a significant role in public health by providing preventive care and health promotion programs across the lifespan (Ong-Flaherty, 2014). They influence individuals’ behavior by establishing strong, trusting, and long-term relationships with patients. Besides, they encourage individuals to modify their lifestyle to prevent chronic diseases. NPs’ roles also include preventing illnesses and disease in the community by taking part in health education, promotion, and advocacy programs. (Ong-Flaherty, 2014).

Nurse leaders are advocates for health prevention and promotion to improve health outcomes. They also emphasize on risk reduction in the community to prevent illnesses (Ong-Flaherty, 2014).
Both specialties are involved in health prevention and promotion in the community to prevent illnesses.
Health Care Administration NPs have minimal training in nursing administration, unlike nurse administrators. Their role in healthcare administration is limited and often have minimal administrative duties of a facility. They perform health care administrative duties when running their private facilities (Elliott, 2017).

Despite nurse leaders leading the healthcare team in patient care, they have minimal administrative duties and do not manage hospital units. They ensure that the clinical environment is safe for both the patients and staff but do not have roles in administration (Kaack et al., 2018). Both NPs and nurse leaders are involved in direct patient care and have no designated administrative duties in health organizations. However, NPs have administrative roles when running their private practice.
Informatics NPs require knowledge of healthcare delivery systems and the use of information systems as well as technology. NPs are involved in direct care and use technology systems such as electronic health records to retrieve patient information, order for diagnostic tests and medications, store patients’ data and to access information for research on evidence-based practice (EBP) (Forsberg et al., 2015).

Nurse leaders require knowledge and skills in information management. They use information systems and technologies to access patient information, plan of care, and improve patient outcomes. Besides, they ensure that patients benefit from innovations in healthcare (Kaack et al., 2018). Nurse leaders have the role of applying evidence-based practice in patient care, and they use informatics to access information on EBP and for clinical research (Kaack et al., 2018).
Informatics is crucial for both NP and nurse leader roles in accessing patient data and planning for care. Besides, they use information systems to access information for clinical research and EBP to improve patient care and overall outcome.
Business/Finance NPs need to be conversant on finance to understand the basics of healthcare financing and how they can reduce healthcare operational costs by providing quality patient care to reduce hospital stays (Elliott, 2017). Moreover, they need to understand business aspects, mainly when operating their private practice.

Revenues in healthcare are dependent on patient satisfaction and quality of care provided. Nurse leaders require knowledge in finance to understand how improving the quality of care, and patient outcomes can lower healthcare costs by decreasing hospital stays (Kaack et al., 2018).
NPs and nurse leaders should be knowledgeable about finance, especially in healthcare financing. By understanding the effect of hospital stays on operational costs, they can improve the quality of patient care, improve patients’ outcomes and satisfaction.
Specialty (e.g., Family, Acute Care) NPs have various specialties that include: acute and primary adult-gerontology health, family health, emergency care, acute pediatrics care, primary pediatric care, neonatal health, psychiatric/mental health care, and women’s health (Forsberg et al., 2015).

Nurse leaders have no area of specialization. While NP has numerous fields of specialty, nurse leader has no area of specialization.
Regulatory Bodies or Certification Agencies That Provide Guidance or Parameters on How These Roles Incorporate Concepts Into Practice NPs are certified by five different bodies that offer licensing exams in various NP specializations. They include:
i. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) which provides Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Certifications (ACNPC) in adult-gerontology nursing (Forsberg et al., 2015).
ii. Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB), which provides licenses for Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Primary Care, and Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Acute Care.
iii. The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) provides certifications in Family Nurse Practitioner, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, and Emergency Nurse Practitioner.
iv. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) provides Nurse Practitioner licenses in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care, Emergency Care, Family Care, Pediatric Primary Care, and Psychiatric-Mental Health.
v. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) which offers Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Certifications in adult-gerontology nursing (Forsberg et al., 2015).
Nurse leaders are regulated and certified by one regulatory body, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The AACN has a commission, Commission on Nurse Certification (CNC), that administers certification exams to nurse leaders (Kaack et al., 2018). Both NPs and nurse leaders are regulated by regulatory bodies that offer certification exams and licenses for one to become an NP or nurse leader. Besides, the AACN regulates and certifies both professions. However, NPs have different bodies that offer certification based on the specialty, while nurse leaders have one regulatory body.