The attention to task diversification can be listed among the most important principles that characterize the majority of institutions and companies. In fact, clear task distribution is extremely important in each sphere of human activity as it ensures proper coordination between team members and helps to achieve best possible results within shorter periods of time. In this connection, it is important to compare and contrast different advanced care provider roles in terms of core competencies and required skills that are associated with them. The present work discusses similarities and differences between core competencies of family nurse practitioners and nurse administrators.
The role of a family nurse practitioner is associated with numerous tasks, and a good FNP should have enough knowledge and skills in order to effectively communicate with patients of different ages. The necessity to work with people belonging to different age groups can be regarded as one of the key difficulties associated with this advanced care provider role (“Population-focused nurse practitioner competencies,” 2013).
Apart from this difficulty, the role of an FNP involves both analyzing patients’ health issues, making a final diagnosis, and providing correct, effective, and, what is also important, timely treatment. In other words, an FNP should provide direct care, paying special attention to the role of a family. When it comes to the role of a nurse administrator or an executive nurse, it is pivotal that this role does not involve providing direct care to patients. Instead, nurse administrators should have broad knowledge in business, management, and be ready to lead their teams and help different specialists to collaborate to improve outcomes for patients (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015).
When it comes to the core competencies that are relevant for both care provider roles, focused attention must be paid to the ability to communicate with colleagues in a manner that encourages effective teamwork and mutual understanding. For instance, as is clear from the list of core competencies for family nurse practitioners, these specialists are expected to be able to support the key values that their colleagues appreciate. To some extent, each family nurse practitioner acts as a manager as this specialist is required to control and improve all processes related to treatment. As for a nurse administrator, the key competencies associated with this care provider role also relate to the presence of advanced communication skills helping this specialist to keep track of the needs of direct care providers.
Another area of competency that is strictly interconnected with both roles is the ability to work with medical equipment and analyze specific information related to nursing. Thus, both family nurse practitioners and nursing administrators are supposed to be aware of the most credible sources of medical information. Also, they should be ready to use such information to make important work-related decisions and achieve success.
It means that both specialists should be academically trained and be able to assess the credibility of information that they use to make decisions that have an impact on other nurses or patients. Consequently, the lack of this ability in these specialists would result in a decreased effectiveness of treatment. Another core competency that is associated with both specializations is related to the willingness of specialists to work and make decisions taking into account possible ethical issues that may arise. This area of competency is extremely important – the use of ethical decision-making is necessary on different levels of organizational structure as they often define outcomes for patients.
In terms of core competencies that shape the difference between these two care provider roles, there are advanced business skills that nursing administrators must demonstrate and competencies associated with the work of a family nurse practitioner. For instance, the latter include the ability to use the knowledge concerning psychological changes across the lifespan to meet the needs of people from various age groups.
Even though there is a number of core competencies that are relevant to both roles, they can have various practical implications. For instance, both FPNs and nursing administrators are required to have advanced communication skills. Using their communication skills, the former are expected to focus on the needs of their patients whereas nursing administrators should apply these skills to have a dialogue with the entire team.
Thus, the responsibilities of these specialists include making presentations, helping other staff members to deal with conflicts, and support the collaborative environment. Another difference in the implementation of competencies in these roles refers to the knowledge of policy competencies. Nursing administrators need to pay attention to policies as their responsibilities include keeping track of changes related to policies and new requirements.
At the same time, a range of differences is related to the unique tasks that these specialists fulfil. For instance, FPNs use their communication skills and professional knowledge to obtain their patients’ health histories whereas nurse administrators use them to establish effective relationships that are able to strengthen their healthcare institutions (Klein, 2014).
In the end, there are many differences and similarities between the key competencies of FPNs and nursing administrators. Among the key differences, there is the need of FPNs to focus on achieving positive outcomes for their patients when establishing business contacts. Due to the specific tasks that they execute, nursing administrators are required to focus on the viability of the entire system presented by a healthcare institution.
References
American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2015). AONE nurse executive competencies. Web.
Klein, T. (2014). Philanthropic dilemmas and the nurse administrator role. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 38(4), 319-326.
Population-focused nurse practitioner competencies. (2013). Web.