What comparisons can be found between the GCU Mission and Domains/CON Mission and Program Competencies with the AACN’s Essentials for Master’s Education for Advanced Practice Nursing? Explain your rational.
The College of Nursing and Health Care Professions (CON) at Grand Canyon University has a Mission that is accessible on the University’s website (Grand Canyon University [GCU], n.d.). This mission can be compared to the Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing, as provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing ([AACN], 2011). On the whole, several similarities may be found between the CON’s Mission and the AACN’s Essentials, some of which are described below.
For instance, it should be observed that the Mission of CON includes utilizing evidence-based and systems-based practice (GCU, n.d.). Similarly, the Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing require that nurses should be able to utilize evidence-based practice, as well as to employ the skills of systems leadership in their work (AACN, 2011). Also, the Mission of CON involves advancing health, safety, and wellness, and providing high-quality care (GCU, n.d.). This is similar to the third essential of Master’s Education in Nursing, according to which it is paramount to take steps aimed at ensuring that the care provided by nurses is safe and that its quality is enhanced continuously (AACN, 2011).
Besides, the Mission of CON requires that both individual patients and whole populations benefit from the nurse’s work (GCU, n.d.). When it comes to the Essentials of Master’s Education, this issue is discussed in the seventh Essential, which requires enhancing health outcomes for both the patient and the population (AACN, 2011). Finally, the Mission of CON states that health care should be supported by high-quality academic research (GCU, n.d.). This is matched by the fourth Essential, which requires implementing a scholarship in nursing practice (AACN, 2011).
On the whole, CON and AACN provide several similar requirements in their Mission and Essentials for Master’s Education, respectively. This is because they recommend employing similar methods (such as evidence-based practice), achieving similar goals (e.g., improving patient outcomes), and using similar paths (for instance, implementing research in practice).
Name one recommendation from the IOM Future of Nursing Report. What is its importance relative to Advanced Practice Nursing? Support your answer.
One of the recommendations provided in the IOM Future of Nursing Report pertains to the levels of training and education that nurses receive (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010). More specifically, according to this recommendation, it is of paramount importance that nurses gain better training and education, which needs to be achieved via utilizing the improved system of education; it is also pivotal that the latter advocates seamless and continuous academic advancement (IOM, 2010). This recommendation is of great importance for advanced practice nursing for a variety of reasons, some of which are discussed below.
For instance, it should be observed that to provide high-quality care, it is essential that advanced practice nurses do not only have a large amount of knowledge that would be sufficient to satisfy the increasingly complicated needs of patients but also that they possess strong skills that would permit them to continuously study and learn. This is because the pool of knowledge is constantly increasing nowadays. For this purpose, nurses need to be able to use evidence-based practice and all its tools, as well as to employ innovative technologies that would allow for implementing the new skills in practice.
Besides, advanced practice nurses have to be capable of doing more complicated tasks than those which have traditionally been in the competence of nurses. Nowadays, nurses are gaining an increasing level of importance in the sphere of health care and sometimes may fill the roles which have usually been played by physicians. This requires possessing considerable amounts of knowledge, the basis for which, as it is known, is gained in the academy.
On the whole, it should be stressed that the said recommendation by IOM (2010) is of great importance for advanced practice nurses today. This is due to a multitude of reasons. In particular, greater levels of training and education are necessary to satisfy the increasingly complicated needs of patients, to keep up with the advancing pool of knowledge, and to play the roles that the contemporary nurses often need to fill.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2011). The essentials of Master’s education in nursing.
Grand Canyon University. (n.d.). College of nursing and health care professions.
Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health.