Every medical worker has his or her core competencies. There are two types of care provider roles specified in this study (indirect and direct). Such professionals as nurse administrators, informaticists, and educators are considered to be indirect care providers, whereas nurse practitioners have to communicate, examine, and help their patients without any barriers. The following paper will compare the core competencies of nurse educators and adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners to explain the primary responsibilities of people who occupy the mentioned positions.
Comparison of Responsibilities
As it is stated above, this paper is intended to analyze and explain particular differences between the roles of adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners (NP) and nurse educators (NE). The first difference lies in the fact that medical workers that specialize in their patients’ and students’ education are not required to communicate with their clients as often as their colleagues (nurse practitioners). However, the work of indirect care providers has a significant impact on people’s health conditions as these professionals must find and evaluate appropriate information that is intended to be used by other colleagues in practice and recommended to different clients in the future.
The first core competency of a nurse educator is his or her duty to facilitate learning. These medical workers are expected to deliver helpful health material and knowledge to various audiences with the same major complaints to improve the patients’ awareness of necessary treatment methods and unexpected situations that might emerge in people’s lives (National League for Nursing, 2017). The main difference between indirect and direct care providers is that the latter professional has to implement all the knowledge in practice and give his or her patients sound recommendations that should be helpful in assisting their diseases. Moreover, nurse practitioners have to analyze separate cases of their clients’ complaints to identify whether the provided knowledge is appropriate in a certain situation or not (The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2016). Indeed, before educating patients, a nurse practitioner must examine them to make accurate diagnoses.
The second core competency of nurse educators is to facilitate learner development and socialization. Despite the fact that indirect care providers are supposed to perform lectures for their patients, they are also responsible for professional qualities and knowledge of students from medical universities (National League for Nursing, 2017). It is essential to teach future nurses to develop their own values and behaviors that should be aimed at providing the best support to make every patient benefit from the future nurses’ interventions. In comparison, it would be proper to state that adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners are expected to promote health and the prevention of various diseases or the impact of unfavorable environmental influences on their patients (The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2016). Also, direct care providers do not communicate with students as much as their colleagues (nurse educators) because their primary responsibility is to assist and treat patients.
Another core competency of nurse educators is to participate in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes. In other words, the medical workers mentioned above should prepare their students for the future work in hospitals or other institutions (National League for Nursing, 2017). In turn, a nurse practitioner is obliged to communicate with different members of the interprofessional collaboration to identify and discuss rare or interesting cases that require the assistance of experienced professionals (The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, 2016). This section does not contain all the duties of both adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners and nurse educators. However, it is essential to describe the conception and main differences in professional responsibilities of these medical workers. It would be proper to state that nurse educators specialize in teaching and giving valuable knowledge to their students that might work in hospitals in the future, whereas practitioners always have contacts with patients and help them with their treatment processes.
Similarities and Differences
The following section is intended to discuss and analyze the similarities and differences in the implementation of the core competencies of both adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners and nurse educators. As it is mentioned above, the main differences between the two professions are specified by the medical workers’ contacts with patients (Zapatka, Conelius, Edwards, Meyer, & Brienza, 2014). However, there are some similarities in the roles discussed previously. For instance, both direct and indirect care providers must contribute to scholarly researches. Although their duties might be different, the colleagues may be helpful for studying and testing particular medical innovations or theories.
Usually, nurse educators organize some researches aimed at identifying the appropriateness of different issues that emerge during the education process, whereas nurse practitioners are expected to support and analyze practical studies (intervention or treatment of various diseases) (Zapatka et al., 2014). It is essential to remember that a specific role does not mean that a medical worker cannot occupy another position. All nurses should know one another’s core competencies to be helpful to patients in case of critical situations.
Conclusion
The main differences between the roles of adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners and nurse educators are defined by their contacts with patients. Indirect care providers work with students to teach them basic rules of medical behaviors and values. In turn, direct care providers examine, set diagnoses, and treat their patients. The only similarity between the professions mentioned above is that all medical workers should participate and organize various studies to improve their experience in a particular specialization.
References
National League for Nursing. (2017). Nurse educator core competency. Web.
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. (2016). Adult-gerontology acute care and primary care NP competencies. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Zapatka, S. A., Conelius, J., Edwards, J., Meyer, E., & Brienza, R. (2014). Pioneering a primary care adult nurse practitioner interprofessional fellowship. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 10(6), 378-386. Web.