Organization Type
Duke University Medical Center is a teaching hospital that encompasses a group of education, research, and patient care facilities located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, NC (DukeHealth, n.d.). It is included in the U.S. News Rankings of the best hospitals and is regionally ranked first in North Carolina, which suggests that the facility is looking for skilled NPs that can provide high levels of quality primary care. Because the organization also includes education and research facilities, it will be a great fit for any NP that has a goal of professional growth and development.
Patients the Organization Serves
Duke University Medical Center serves adult and pediatric patients and holds 919 beds. In the most recent reported year (2016), the facility admitted 39,535 patients, performed 16,966 inpatients, and 21,368 outpatient surgeries (U.S. News, 2016). The organization is ranked in thirteen adults and ten children’s specialties among which the highest-ranking received Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Pulmonology, Ophthalmology, Urology, and Pediatrics: Neonatology. The large size of the organization, as well as the variety of patients it serves, will allow the NP to develop new skills with regards to working in large terms or interacting with patients of all ages and types of health issues.
Professional Fit for Advanced Nursing Role
Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have become a tool for dealing with the shortages of professionals in primary care, which means that they should be professionally fitted to meet the requirements of a healthcare organization. Moreover, according to the findings of the research conducted by Naylor and Kurtzman (2011), NPS usually receive very high-quality training, which allows them to care for the patient on a level that is equivalent to that of a physician. This suggests that an NP is fit for the professional nursing role in primary care and can potentially bring high value to the organization that lacks trained professionals who can diversify their range of responsibilities according to what the facility needs.
An NP should possess extensive clinical expertise, formal education provision, as well as wider operational awareness. Duke University Medical Center is a facility that employs professionals of different expertise to make up a team of the most skilled and professionally prepared healthcare providers. In this sense, the NP planning to work in the facility should be prepared both practically and theoretically for providing high-quality primary care to patients admitted to the facility.
New Nursing Role Implementation
Since the interpretation of new nursing role implementation can vary in different settings, it is first important to mention that in this case study implementation will refer to the process a health authority used in order to introduce the Nurse Practitioner to the Primary Health Care setting. Nursing role implementation never occurs in isolation (Sangster-Gormley, Martin-Misener, & Burge, 2013) because both environmental and contextual factors should be taken into consideration. The process of NPs role implementation will be facilitated by the support from the facility’s manager, the previous work experience and the level of education of the NP, acceptance by other members of the team, as well as the level of patient satisfaction with the level of primary care provided by the NP.
It is also worth mentioning that new nursing role implementation will be the most effective if the management plans the role beforehand and then conducts long-term planning when the Nurse Practitioner was hired; this will help other members of the team understand better why the role was implemented as well as how the organization will benefit from it.
State Board of Nursing and Nursing Practice Act
North Carolina Board of Nursing is the body that will support the role implementation of a Nurse Practitioner’s role in Duke University Medical Center. The Board is responsible for licensure of nurses in the state, nursing education, as well as regulation of nursing practice in North Carolina through the Nursing Practice Act. According to the State of North Carolina Nursing Practice Act (2009), in order to obtain the license and retain it in the future, a nurse practitioner must meet the qualifications for licensure and renewal outlined by the applicable state laws. Therefore, the NP should have all the required licenses to work at Duke University Medical Center.
It is also important to follow the Nursing Practice Act because it outlines the key principles and regulations of the nursing practice since NPs are professionals that take a variety of roles ranging from management to innovative care. Because Duke University Medical Center is a teaching hospital that conducts extensive research in different areas of healthcare, the NP has an opportunity under the NPA to implement research and innovation into the practice and bring a significant benefit to the facility. Overall, there is a large body of literature that supports the role of the NP as a professional that provides patients with primary care of the highest value. Moreover, Duke University Medical Center should be prepared for any shortages in primary care providers and hire versatile NPs that can take up a variety of roles.
References
DukeHealth. (n.d.). Duke University Medical Center. Web.
Naylor, M., & Kurtzman, E. (2011). The role of nurse practitioners in reinventing primary care. Health Affairs, 29(5), 893-899.
Sangster-Gormley, E., Martin-Misener, R., & Burge, F. (2013). A case study of nurse practitioner role implementation in primary care: What happens when new roles are introduced? BMC Nursing, 12(1), 1-12.
State of North Carolina Nurse Practice Act. (2009). Web.
U.S. News. (2016). Duke University Hospital. Web.