Advanced practice roles of nursing allow for specialized tasks to be fulfilled by people who are most capable of completing the tasks. The advanced practice roles include several various specializations but can be separated into four main types: administrator, informaticist, educator, and practitioner (“NP competencies,” 2017). This paper will provide an overview of the core competencies of direct and indirect care provider roles as well as the similarities and differences between the roles.
Nurse Administrator
Five core competencies define the roles of a Nurse Administrator and Nurse Executive. The first core competency is titled “communication and relationship building.” Communication competency is focused on effective communication through oral and written presentations for diverse audiences, creating and managing the medical, community, and academic relationships, providing a positive influence on the team, establishing a culturally competent environment, and community involvement (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015).
The second competency is based on the knowledge of the health care environment. It includes clinical practice knowledge, models of care delivery, work design, policy and economics management, evidence-based practice implementation, research and outreach management, patient safety, performance improvement, risk management, and governance over various aspects of nursing (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015). The third is leadership, and it relies on foundational thinking skills, ability to learn from past experiences, knowledge of systems thinking, succession management, and change management. Professionalism is the fourth competency. It is comprised of personal and professional accountability, ethics, advocacy, and career planning (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015). The last competency is business skills. It is reliant on the nurse’s ability to manage the finances of the facility, perform HR, strategic, and information management for the medical organization (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015). All of the competencies are connected through leadership, and it is reflected in work provided by Nurse Administrators.
Nurse Informaticist
Despite the differences in the specified tasks of nurse informaticists and nurse administrators, both roles share leadership competencies. For informaticists, however, the leadership competencies are focused on computerized systems created to manage administrative data. Other informaticist competencies include user-level competencies in computer operation such as database management, monitoring systems use, computer safety management, and others (Gonçalves, Wolff, Staggers, & Peres, 2012). The required level of computer knowledge includes knowledge of basic computer operation, relevant software use, electronic communication, and education of colleagues (Gonçalves et al., 2012), which is similar to the competencies of nurse educators.
Nurse Educator
Nurse educators have eight base competencies according to the National League for Nursing. The first and second is based on the facilitation of learning, development, and socialization of learners. Third, is focused on the use of assessment and evaluation strategies to check the results of learners. The fourth is participation in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes. The fifth is the function of the nurse as an agent of change and leadership. This competency overlaps with the nursing administrator role. Nurse educators are expected to pursue continuous quality improvements in the nurse educator role (“Nurse educator core competency,” 2017). They must engage in scholarship, and lastly, function within the educational environment.
Family Nurse Practitioner
I am a family nurse practitioner and every day I make sure to represent the competencies that I have. The first is health promotion, disease prevention, and treatment. This competency represents my assessments of health, diagnosis development, the creation of a care plan, and its implementation through treatment. None of the previously mentioned roles have health promotion as a primary competency. I believe that this competency separates direct and indirect care provider roles. The implementation of indirect roles does not require proficiency in medical services, and therefore it does not have health promotion as a competency. Both roles utilize training courses in the implementation process, but the specialization of courses differs depending on the role. However, the implementation of the direct role of the nurse practitioner requires more universal training than indirect roles.
I create and maintain healthy NP-patient relationships which are similar to administrators. Most of my core competencies are shared with other roles. Just like the administrator, I maintain professionalism, possess cultural competence, and manage health delivery systems. Akin to the educator, I coach and teach my colleagues, and like the informaticist, I monitor the quality of health care (“NP competencies,” 2017). The fact of similarity between the roles is not surprising. During my practice, I often encounter tasks that fall under all of these categories. Some tasks require multiple competencies naturally. For example, while providing care to a person from a culture unknown to me, I seek information about things that could be seen as upsetting or disrespectful, to allow me to maintain my NP-patient relationship on a professional level. Other tasks are more situational. For instance, due to my experience, I was asked to coach my colleagues during their shifts.
While nursing roles may share competencies, they do not replace each other. Instead, by having more people capable of completing the required tasks, medical facilities gain change to provide care in an emergency case when some roles are temporarily unfilled. Both direct and indirect care providers allow the medical facility to operate efficiently, and their values should not be underestimated.
Conclusion
Advanced nursing roles are essential when it comes to specialized tasks. Administrators, educators, informaticists, and family nurse practitioners may have a different specialty, but their competencies are sometimes shared. This allows for a more consistent presence of people capable of fulfilling various tasks. The health promotion competency of direct health providers separates them from indirect ones. However, they are both beneficial to nursing.
References
American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2015). AONE nurse executive competencies. Chicago, IL: AONE.
Gonçalves, L. S., Wolff, L. D. G., Staggers, N., & Peres, A. M. (2012). Nursing informatics competencies: An analysis of the latest research. In NI 2012: Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Nursing Informatics (p. 127). Montreal, Canada: American Medical Informatics Association.
NP competencies. (2017). Web.
Nurse educator core competency. (2017). Web.