Discussion: NURS 6003 Week 10 Examining Nursing Specialties

Post an explanation of your choice of a nursing specialty within the program. Describe any difficulties you had (or are having) in making your choice, and the factors that drove/are driving your decision. Identify at least one professional organization affiliated with your chosen specialty and provide details on becoming a member.

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Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty

One of the most difficult decisions for the registered nurse who has completed an approved basic nursing program such as the Bachelor of Science in Nursing or BSN is the choice os specialty to pursue. To begin with, one has to decide which role among the four Advanced Practice Registered Nurse or APRN Consensus Model roles to go with. There are four roles which are certified nurse midwife (CNM), clinical nurse specialist (CNS), certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), and certified nurse practitioner or CNP (Sabo et al., 2017). This is the same dilemma I found myself in when I was faced with the prospect of choosing which MSN specialty to study and practice. The purpose of this paper is to present the MSN nursing specialty that I chose to practice as an advanced nurse.

Decision Process for the Choice of Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP)

I have always been fascinated by the adrenaline rush that comes with working in an emergency setting. It is for this reason that I settled on the APRN role of Certified Nurse Practitioner (CNP) and in particular Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Nursing License Map, 2021). I had researched about the specialty and discovered that the ACNP works in a variety of emergency settings such as hospital emergency departments and recovery rooms in operating theaters. I was also pleased to discover that the ACNP takes care of those patients with chronic conditions that have been exacerbated (such as a type I diabetic in a diabetic ketoacidosis crisis) or those with new acute conditions such as a non-ST elevation myocardial infarct (NSTEMI).

As I have stated above, one of the difficulties that I faced in making the above choice was a lack of knowledge and information about the correct specialty for my professional interests. Because of this, I had to research extensively and also ask faculty for advice before settling for my choice. The other difficulty was knowing if I could still work in the hospital setting with the specialty that I chose or I would have to go into private practice. This difficulty was solved when I found out that I could work in a hospital emergency department or operating room. I further discovered that I may not even need t be employed directly by the hospital but work as an independent contractor which would give me more freedom and time to pursue my doctorate. The reason for all this is that I enjoy working n the hospital setting and would also like to do community work based on education on primary and secondary prevention. As I have stated above the main factor that drove my decision is the fact that I have always wanted to work in an emergency setting since the time I was doing my basic nursing RN course.

Professional Organization

A professional organization that is affiliated with my chosen specialty of ACNP is the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses or AACN (AACN, n.d.). This is the professional organization that will offer me certification after I have completed my program and now seeking licensure to practice. The organization has over 130,000 members and provides several membership options. The one that suits me at present is the student membership option which requires the payment of an annual fee of $52 (AACN, n.d.). According to the information on the website of the organization, one may also opt to join a local chapter of the organization in their area and this will attract separate fees from this one for the national body. My professional and academic goals are to practice for two years after finishing my MSN program to gain practical experience and thereafter enrol for my doctorate.

Conclusion

Choosing an APRN specialty is not easy. However, there is satisfaction in going through the process successfully and making a good choice. I went through this process and chose for my MSN program the specialty of Acute Care Nurse Practitioner or ACNP. The choice was motivated by my love for working in a hospital setting in emergency situations.

References

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses or AACN (AACN, n.d.). Initial certifications. https://www.aacn.org/certification/get-certified

Nursing License Map (2021). How to become an acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP). https://nursinglicensemap.com/advanced-practice-nursing/nurse-practitioner/acute-care-acnp/#:~:text=Acute%20care%20nurse%20practitioners%20are,focus%20on%20adults%20or%20children

Sabo, J.A., Chesney, M., Tracy, M.F., & Sendelbach, S. (2017). APRN consensus model implementation: The Minnesota experience. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 8(2), 10-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(17)30093-5