An Advanced Practice Nurse (APN), Admission Essay Example

Introduction

My experiences as an advanced practice nurse (APN) have been unique and multifaceted on many levels, thereby enabling me to expand my knowledge and improve the scope of nursing practice. To date, I have acquired significant opportunities to improve my skills, enhance my communication with my colleagues and with patients, and have been able to improve my understanding of complex problems that impact nurses and patient care. In my advanced practice nursing role, I am able to make a valuable contribution to the practice setting and to support quality improvement and evidence-based solutions to common nursing problems and concerns that impact the healthcare environment.

Analysis

During my graduate course work, my experiences in conducting an independent research project provided me with a new understanding of how research contributes to improving healthcare quality through education and patient guidance. My experience with the “Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby” initiative was instrumental in my growth as a nurse leader and a facilitator of change to ensure that unmet needs for pregnant women do not remain unfulfilled and that they are provided with an environment that supports improved pregnancy outcomes. I am proud of this program and the success that was achieved in enabling women to improve their health and prenatal care throughout each stage of pregnancy. In my role as an APN, I am able to contribute to the modification of healthcare policies that prevent high quality care and desirable outcomes for patients (Dunbar-Jacob et.al, 2013). I believe that when APNs collaborate regarding a set of ideas that will promote positive change, their work will be recognized and will improve the healthcare system over time.

In my coursework, I was able to collaborate with students with many unique ideas regarding how to solve some of the most difficult and challenging problems of the nursing profession. I continue to gain fulfillment through idea generation and the utilization of evidence-based research to shape practice. I believe in this process because it inspires nurses to identify specific problems and to develop alternative solutions to common problems with varying degrees of complexity. To date, I have learned much about myself and have grown as a leader and as a promoter of change, as I am unsatisfied with the status quo if healthcare quality is less than desirable. Under these conditions, change is essential as a means of supporting healthcare and the nursing profession on a continuous basis. I am committed to expanding nursing practice through my daily activities and through special programs that target specific populations that are influenced by health disparities in many communities.

Finally, I intend to begin a research project to analyze pain medications to determine their impact on patients. This will be accomplished by determining whether or not drug screens determine if the prescribed drugs are appropriate for patients, based upon specific genetic markers. This program will support my objective to better understand how pain medications influence patient health and whether or not they are properly prescribed to patients.

Conclusion

In my role as an APN, I have pursued many important objectives that have been largely successful on a number of levels. Furthermore, I acquired many fundamental concepts during my prior coursework that have enabled me to achieve many of my professional career goals to date. These experiences have been largely instrumental in my growth as an APN and in my DNP educational path. I continue to focus on key areas that are important to professional nursing practice so that patient care quality, education, knowledge sharing, access to healthcare services, and other programs are successful in reaching the desired audiences to improve health and wellbeing.

References

Dunbar-Jacob, J., Nativio, D. G., & Khalil, H. (2013). Impact of Doctor of Nursing Practice education in shaping health care systems for the future. The Journal of nursing education, 52(8), 423-427.