Introduction
Health workers are an important part of society as they contribute to the safety and health of the population. Moreover, nurses are one of the key elements of the healthcare system since they directly interact with patients throughout the entire treatment. Their responsibilities primarily include providing qualified medical care to patients. However, nurses play a big role in informing and educating people, promoting healthy lifestyles, and raising public health. To gain the necessary qualifications and skills, healthcare providers must become advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Therefore, this paper will analyze the future of nursing and the role of the Consensus Model for APRNs.
The Future of Nursing
As in other areas, innovations and developments constantly appear in nursing and health. They improve the quality of interaction between nurses and patients and positively impact the level of medical care. There is a Consensus Model for APRNs to equalize the quality and standards of work. This model defines licensure, accreditation, certification, and education standards for nurses (Martsolf et al., 2020). Thanks to this, all American citizens can receive qualified medical care. Moreover, it is becoming easier for nurses to move between states and work in healthcare due to universal standards and requirements. Consequently, the model equalizes the quality of healthcare services in different regions, improving health equality.
The Consensus Model has significantly improved the level of basic education for nurses. It requires all APRNs to complete educational programs in physiology, pathophysiology, patient assessment, and pharmacology. Moreover, APRN education must include “a minimum of 500 clinical hours” (American Nurses Credentialing Center, n.d., para. 8). This contributes to delegating part of the doctors’ duties and reducing their workload. Nurses, in most cases, can independently assess the patient’s health, diagnose the disease, and prescribe the optimal treatment. As a result, the efficiency and quality of medical services are increasing. In addition, APRNs have a significant role in patient education, healthy lifestyle promotion, and public health promotion. Consequently, people are more attentive to their health and turn to healthcare providers for qualified help.
Moreover, advanced practice registered nurses have the opportunity to become advanced nursing practitioners (ANPs). Since APRNs already have a basic nursing education, they can get a master’s or Ph.D. degree to improve their professional skills. ANPs have greater autonomy and can provide almost all of the same services as physicians. Nurses are key healthcare providers in the community and rural areas. Therefore, according to Martsolf et al. (2020), the “Consensus Model across states could have a significant impact on health systems and NPs working in specialty settings” (p. 386). That makes health care more accessible while maintaining high-quality services.
In addition, the existence of licensure, accreditation, certification, and education standards creates more opportunities for modernizing processes in the healthcare system and adapting to emerging challenges. Existing APRN educational programs can be modified to fit general healthcare trends. For example, it could be getting additional education needed to address diseases that are most common today. In addition, the Consensus Model creates opportunities for nurses to continually learn and learn new skills (Martsolf et al., 2020). Having the necessary basic knowledge of APRNs creates the potential to expand their scope further and increase autonomy. That implies less need for intervention from doctors to supervise the performance of nurses in cases with milder or more moderate types of illness. It, in turn, helps direct resources to address current health issues and more severe cases requiring high qualifications.
In addition, the model provides opportunities for the implementation and development of new technologies. Today, all industries, including nursing and healthcare, use technology to automate processes and increase work productivity. The use of information technology in medicine can improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, and develop optimal treatment strategies based on the analysis of available data (Booth et al., 2021). However, the introduction of these technologies does not mean a decrease in the importance of nurses. Since APRNs have great potential for further learning and adapting innovations, they can effectively use digital technologies to improve the quality of their work. However, this requires reforming nursing education and the application of these practices in all healthcare settings (Booth et al., 2021). The use of electronic medical records will help increase the level of public confidence in medicine due to additional security guarantees.
Conclusion
Thus, nursing and health are actively developing and introducing innovations and innovations. However, to improve the adaptability of healthcare providers, standardization of licensure, accreditation, certification, and education for nurses is essential. The Consensus Model for APRNs creates the necessary conditions for more autonomous work of nurses and improved quality of medical services in all regions of the country.
In addition, the basic knowledge of advanced practice registered nurses provides the basis for mastering new professional skills necessary to improve the quality of medical services and respond more quickly to emerging challenges. Nurses can help educate people about common diseases by raising the level of public health. In addition, the use of the model provides opportunities for the transformation of educational programs and the introduction of information technology in the healthcare sector.
References
American Nurses Credentialing Center. (n.d.). APRN Consensus Model. Web.
Booth, R. G., Strudwick, G., McBride, S., O’Connor, S., & López, A. L. S. (2021). Future of Nursing: How the nursing profession should adapt for a digital future. The BMJ, 373. Web.
Martsolf, G. R., Gigli, K. H., Reynolds, B. R., & McCorkle, M. (2020). Misalignment of specialty nurse practitioners and the Consensus Model. Nursing Outlook, 68(4), 385-387. Web.