Advancing Nursing Practice

Advanced Nursing Practice: Exploring Roles and Opportunities is a practical yet complete introduction to all aspects of the advanced practice nursing role including competencies, practice, reimbursement, and leadership. Because authors Dr. Hart and Dr. Bell realize that streamlined pathways continue to be developed that aid nurses in obtaining graduate degrees quickly, they have strived to create a text that is manageable within compressed time frames while also ensuring students master all of the critical knowledge expected of Advanced Practice Nurses through thoughtful aligned to AACN’s Essentials competencies and with core competencies in specialty areas. The authors have achieved a manageable text through concise writing and an unwavering focus on need-to-know content.

Dr. Hart and Dr. Bell have created a one-stop text for practical application of all advanced practice roles. In addition to the commonly covered roles— including certified nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), certified nurse midwives (CNMs), clinical specialists (CNSs), and nurse practitioners (NPs and DNPs)—the authors will also address nursing education and nursing administration. Gone are the days of instructors supplementing additional information to cover these specialties! Dr. Hart and Dr. Bell provide nurses with an authoritative source for not only knowing what career choices are available, but to gain insight into and appreciation for the realities of the role.

Part I addresses the driving forces and policy shaping Advanced Practice Roles. They authors provide an overview of current challenges within the U.S. health system that increase the needs for nurses with advanced degrees. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) Essentials of Master’s Education for Advanced Practice Nursing (2011) and Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (2006) are covered to present differentiation of educational competencies that are required as the nurse moves from a generalist, undergraduate role to a specialized, graduate-prepared role. Also covered are considerations in education that include degree options, post-master’s certificates, licensure, certification, and the need for continuing education. Parts II, III, and IV presents each of the three types of roles – educator, administrator, and clinical. In defining each of these, information—specific to each role—is provided. The authors discuss the various populations served by each type of advanced practice nurse as well as the different practice settings in which you would find each type of advanced practice nurses. Professional competencies are reviewed as a means of identifying scope and standards of practice. Various Nurse Practitioner roles, including certified Nurse Midwife, Clinical Nurse Leaders, and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist are presented along with their corresponding core competencies. Unique to this text is the attention given to the Educator and administrator roles, fully exploring professional requirements, competencies, and certification. Educational and administrative roles each have a separate chapter with review of core competencies as a certified nurse educator and nurse executive. Licensure and certification requirements for each advanced practice role are covered. Each chapter in these sections have the standard format of a discussion of what is involved in the role and sub-specialization opportunities, a review of settings in which they practice, types of populations and services that would be encountered. This consistency in informational layout is a bonus to educators who can then create assignments that allow for individualization in career choice within the same assignment parameters. Part V , The Leadership Journey, recognizes that attaining advanced professional roles is an evolving process and not a destination. This section of the text assists the reader in self-identifying strengths. Students gain an understanding of where they are in terms of engaging in new learning and using feedback to reach their goals. The concept of finding and using a mentor is emphasized, as is how to identify and use opportunities. The final chapters introduce concepts that are germane to nurses as they move from novice to expert, including collaboration, reflective practice, preparing for an interview, and negotiating a contract. Nurses are lifelong learners and much of this content is a guidebook on how to grow into leaders who assume advanced professional roles.

Advanced Nursing Practice: Exploring Roles and Opportunities is a student-friendly resource that appeals to all learning styles. Graduate students have so many competing priorities, so the authors’ writing style is very readable in order to engage entry-level graduate students. The book is fully illustrated to enhance the text’s readability and to present information in unique ways to engage visual learners. Dr. Hart and Dr. Bell also know from their years of teaching experience that students love hearing real-life experiences of nurses working in advanced professional roles, especially because they have not held the positions themselves yet. These first-person narratives will be highlighted through the “In their Own Words” feature which will appear throughout the textbook chapters. “In their Own Words” provides first person accounts of how competencies are operationalized in practice. Actual advanced practice nurses will share what inspired them to what challenges they face. They will clearly convey what it takes for nurses to succeed in the role and how expected competencies impact their daily practice. To appeal to audio learners and to break up the reading intensive nature of your online/hybrid courses, this package will include “Voice of the Advanced Practice Nurse” videos on thePoint. These videos will feature interviews of a Certified Nursing Anesthetist, Certified Nursing Midwife, Clinical Specialist, Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Educator, Nursing Administrator, and Clinical Nurse Leader. These APNs will discuss what inspired them to pursue their role, what contributions they have been able to make to the profession, and what they find motivating, rewarding, surprising about their role, and more. Students will have the opportunity to read journal articles published by these APNs, to participate in discussion boards inspired by these videos, and to complete activities that correlate to content covered in the videos as well.

Advanced Nursing Practice: Exploring Roles and Opportunities provides plenty of opportunities for applied learning. In each chapter, “Questions to Ask Yourself” encourage students’ application and further reflection of content while highlighting areas that could require further investigation. At the end of every chapter, exercises are included that encourage application of content or exploration of internet resources as well. To enhance your online/hybrid course, students will receive access to a collated journal article collection, internet resources, and Voice of the APN videos. Instructors can leverage the text’s Image Bank, PowerPoints that highlight each chapter’s key points, case studies and answers, discussion questions with answers, and syllabi showing you how all of the assets can be integrated together.