WGU FNP program
Advance practice nurses have the opportunity to continue and advance their education to attain the Family Nurse Practitioner profession (FNP). Western Governors University (WGU) offers this course to individuals who wish to advance to this scope of practice. The qualifications for this program entail a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in nursing from an accredited institution. Other requirements include an active license as a registered nurse (RN) and personal characteristics like compassion, resilience, resourcefulness, teamwork, and independence. In addition, FNPs need to have the critical thinking, communication skills, leadership, interpersonal organization, and leadership, which are important in diagnosing, treating, and conducting and interpreting laboratory tests for the patients. Their advancement to this sector of practice offers advanced nurses the ability to widen their scope of practice to people in various communities, populations, and communities. A Nurse Practitioner has the opportunity to advance and work as a Family Nurse Practitioner after a period of training. The program requires the individual to have a cumulative grade of 3.0. Those accepted into the programs have to dedicate and about thirty hours per week to studies. Individuals are also free to choose to specialize in the various courses available within the educational institution.
How have your life and professional experiences prepared you for the WGU FNP program?
The West Governors University (WGU) requires candidates to have prior experience as a Nurse Practitioner to qualify into being a Family Nurse Practitioner. An FNP is a professional who deals with offering health care services on the family level. Nurse practitioners receive care skills to cater to a wide array of patients, from young children to the elderly. Nurse practitioners can offer pediatric services, women health services and geriatric services. NPs have skills that enable them to work in both inpatient and outpatient services to patients. NPS also possess enough professional skills to work alone or as a team. FNPs offers primary care services like conducting checkups, screening and diagnostic practices, physical examinations, prescribing medication, and ordering and analyzing tests. An NP’s practice involves conducting more or less of the same services. The fact that NPs possess most of these skills makes them the most appropriate candidates to progress with giving health care services in the family context.
Another role that NPs is to provide services like counselling to patients. Individuals in the nursing profession deal with a diversity of people, most of them with difficult characters. The key essential trait that nurses should have is compassion. Compassion helps individuals have empathy, which will help deal with different personalities. Nurse practitioners require empathy to also offer counselling to patients. Counselling requires an individual to possess good communication skills, which is one of the requirements that one needs to pursue when trying to be an FNP. Other requirements for an FNP are critical thinking skills. NPs receive training in developing critical thinking skills, especially when diagnosing and offering treatment plans for patients. Working as NP assists in the building helps develop skills to recognize how to deal with most medical situations. The NP also has opportunities to learn and assist physicians in their work. These individuals have killed to record and present information effectively, which helps in developing care plans and medication prescriptions.
How can the WGU FNP program prepare you to deliver healthcare to the community in which you live?
The total population of people in the country continues to rise over the years, as with the number of people who may require medical services. The rise of chronic conditions in the country reveals that the number of health practitioners is not enough to meet the demand. There is a need to educate and allocate as many practitioners. There is a shortage of over seven thousand nurse practitioners in the United States. FNPs are an important addition to the industry who help fill this gap in the industry to help improve health outcomes and increase the quality of care (Bell et al., 2018). The growth of the ageing population in the country also reveals the need for more Family Nurse Practitioners in the industry. The FNPs are also suitable for providing services to low-income earning households and those with difficulty accessing medical services. FNPs receive education and skills that help them provide services to a vast array of patients in different settings.
The qualifications of FNPs assist them in works with patients of different ages and health requirements. FNPs mainly offer outpatient facilities and can collaborate with other health practitioners to assure patients receive the best care for best outcomes. FNPs help reduces the hassle of travelling to hospitals for the aged and those with chronic conditions. Providing medical services to patients in their homesteads is relatively affordable and less expensive compared to the hospital setting. These professionals’ education and skills give them the proper qualification and authority to offer services that facilitate health promotion and disease prevention like diagnosing, recommending medication, and offering health and nutritional advice. FNPs are also allowed to perform medical procedures according to patient requirements. FNPs help minimize cases of overcrowding in hospitals with the services they offer. Specialized care services for patients helps to significantly reduce the rates of readmission, reducing the rates of emergency admissions and promoting overall patient satisfaction. FNPs can also help create and advocate for changes in some of the healthcare policies. These professionals can conduct surveys and research in their communities and create policies that will benefit the general public and improve health.
Please describe the type of clinical practice you will pursue upon graduation from the WGU FNP program.
The WGU gives FNP students a chance to choose to advance into several scopes o practices of their choosing. Individuals have the chance to specialize in either pharmacology, pathophysiology pediatric primary care, adult primary care, health promotion of people or populations, or family nursing practitioner. Upon completion of the program, I wish to specialize in the Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (PPCNP) program. The work of the PPCNPs is to provide care to young patients in their early years of development. The work of the professionals is to promote the wellbeing of children by performing practices that aim at disease prevention and health promotion. Some of these practices include managing chronic and acute illnesses, offering immunizations, diagnosing, and offering medication. PPCNPs can work in community health centres, schools, specialized clinics, and outpatient pediatric clinics. Professional ethics expect these professionals to be consistent with their services regardless of the environment they operate.
How can your future clinical practice as an FNP affect the quality and cost of care for patients and their families?
The current years continue to experience a rise in health conditioners and a shortage of practitioners in the health units. Most of the individuals who are lucky enough to access health care have to travel long distances to receive care which is an expensive practice in the long run. An FNP can work in a wide range of settings that patients can access. Although innovations such as retail-based clinics are available in most states and accessible to many people, much needs to take place. Professionals like FNPs play a key role in minimizing the cost of medication available to the public (Mueller & R C., 2020). FNPs conduct practices that lead to disease prevention, which lowers the probability of getting illnesses in the population, therefore lowering medical costs. The training offered to FNPs in educational institutions assists them to deal with a wide range of medical issues. These practices end up minimizing costs of healthcare for families compared to costs in hospitals.
I have reviewed and understand the scope of practice of the Family Nurse Practitioner role in my state of _________. Signature Line: ____________________________________________
References
Lacny, S., Zarrabi, M., Martin-Misener, R., Donald, F., Sketris, I., Murphy, A. L., DiCenso, A., & Marshall, D. A. (2016). Cost-effectiveness of a nurse practitioner-family physician model of care in a nursing home: Controlled before and after study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(9), 2138-2152. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12989
Mueller, & R C. (2020). Exploring family nurse practitioners’ practices in recommending mHealth apps to patients. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 38(2), 108-109. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ncn.0000654576.89577.0a
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