My Passion about Professional Life and Boards that Support My Passion

My professional life focuses on the study and prevention of chronic diseases among the Hispanic population. It is one of the largest minority groups that are vulnerable to cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. The number of Hispanics is expected to increase by 28.6 percent (119 million) by 2060 in the US (Velasco-Mondragon, Jimenez, Palladino-Davis, Davis, & Escamilla-Cejudo (2016). Personally, I try to act in a way to address these chronic conditions to allow people to experience a higher quality of life and reduce negative health outcomes. I consider that improved access to health care services, self-management education, and programs based on the incidence of diseases should be targeted by care professionals (Duggan et al., 2014). I have skills that prepare me for acting on the local and state levels such as expert decision-making, working and relevant knowledge of the mentioned area, as well as change and team building skills.

Currently, I am not serving on any board, but the Florida Board of Nursing and the American Cancer Association seem to be attractive to engage in to help Hispanics in addressing their chronic diseases. The Florida Board of Nursing is the organization that licenses, monitors, and ensures that nurses have competences that are required for their specific work. The safest practice, attention to patient needs, and evidence-based interventions are prioritized by the Florida Board of Nursing to involve nurses. In turn, the American Cancer Association promotes research, early detection, and education for patients, which is consistent with my passion.

Peer Post Responses

Post 1

Kendra, your post points to a critical issue of full practice authority that nurse practitioners should have to ensure patients with the best services and medications. In my point of view, advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) may provide care that is equal in its quality to services offered by their physician counterparts. Currently, there are expanding scope-of-practice (SOP) laws that limit the areas in which nurses can practice. In their research based on the state of Ohio, Martsolf, Arifkhanova, and Auerbach (2015) state that full practice granted to APRNs would improve access of patients to healthcare services. While the increase regarding quality is identified by the authors, cost-related changes are not clear. In this connection, the question is as follows: what are possible cost-associated outcomes of eliminating or limiting SOP for patients, nurses, and healthcare in general?

Post 2

Jessey, leadership skills of nurse practitioners are essential to transform healthcare services and create a structured and transparent process of care. Your experience seems to be important to your understanding of how leaders should act to serve as examples and change facilitators for others. Higgins et al. (2014) analyzed the factors that impact nurse practitioners’ ability to implement leadership. They specified four main factors, including opportunities to act as leaders, the existence of a framework for the professional growth, instruments for maintaining leadership, and personal features of practitioners. One should stress that the nurse leaders may use these factors in their practice to ensure that they do the best they can for improving patient outcomes and building a strong team. It is also important to understand how leadership potential is linked to assisting nurses in overcoming professional isolation and other related challenges.

References

Duggan, C., Carosso, E., Mariscal, N., Islas, I., Ibarra, G., Holte, S.,… Thompson, B. (2014). Diabetes prevention in Hispanics: Report from a randomized controlled trial. Preventing Chronic Disease, 11, 28-39.

Higgins, A., Begley, C., Lalor, J., Coyne, I., Murphy, K., & Elliott, N. (2014). Factors influencing advanced practitioners’ ability to enact leadership: A case study within Irish healthcare. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(7), 894-905.

Martsolf, G., Arifkhanova, A., & Auerbach, D. I. (2015). The impact of full practice authority for nurse practitioners and other advanced practice registered nurses in Ohio. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.

Velasco-Mondragon, E., Jimenez, A., Palladino-Davis, A. G., Davis, D., & Escamilla-Cejudo, J. A. (2016). Hispanic health in the USA: A scoping review of the literature. Public Health Reviews, 37(1), 31-58.