CHANGE INITIATIVES

Change Initiatives

Change Initiatives

In 1998 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) pointed out that advanced practice roles in nursing was essential in master's education. The International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network (2004) has suggested that an ANP should be educated to master's degree. Therefore, I am now studying in the Advanced Nursing Practice” curriculum in the Griffith University.

Through the first class, we knew what qualifications we should prepared as we are in master level. Master's degree programmes for ANPs include: advanced nursing practice, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy, pathology, physiology, advanced physical assessment skills, research, leadership, quality improvement and case management (Eileen & Rita, 2005). They are almost all included in our course contents and also, these contents seem to be based on experience by patients and needs to extend the practical theoretical and the research skill. Go through the varieties nursing discipline to act as a “direct clinical practice.

We are trained to be an expert guidance, a consultation, clinical leadership and decision making in the future (Madrean & Fadwa,2006; Linda, 1995). In the future, as an ANP, we not only are able to take care of patients as an expert in the clinic but also act as a nursing educator, a model for the novice nurses, an administrator to be able have a holistic view about the practice of nursing, a professional research skill on the advance of nursing knowledge. It might be too abstract for me as I am doing the first semester master of nursing degree. However, it is not too late to prepare myself as an expert in ANP roles.

Clearly articulate the role of the nurse in advanced practice within clinical, political and professional contexts: As an ANP, we have to develop multiple knowledge and skill through critical thinking process with research evidence, we have to collaborate with multiple teams, we have to be an expert guidance to be able to make professional decision and have the contribution of nursing to the health care. Overall, we have to develop personally and professionally during the nursing discipline.

ANPs have diversity roles, therefore, how can we perform perfectly in every single time? First of all, use critical thinking and analytic skill to expand the knowledge. It has been repeated that nursing is an art, however, nursing still need science to analyse. Knowing that and knowing how are the two most important skills for helping us to build critical thinking and analytic skill as critical thinking is self-judgment and analyse is to explore the evidence to support the judgment. Every time when I attend the course, we always get together as a small group to expand and to critically analyse our thought through the teacher questions. It is a challenge for me because I was not used to it when I had the nursing education in Taiwan. We always listen to the teacher's idea without critical thinking.

Second, ANPs act diversity roles and these variety roles are based on various factors which are included social, political and economic in society (Dorothy, ...