Professional Development: Nurses on Boards, Research Paper Example

Since advanced practice nurses have very busy schedules, it would be beneficial for web-based continuing education programs to be used as continuing education and professional development programs to allow professionals to remain on top of the latest innovations in spite of their rigorous responsibilities. While these programs can include the DNP, it is reasonable for them to extend to professional development beyond this level. To ensure that advanced practice nurses are able to remain informed of the latest technologies, it would be beneficial for them to constantly engage in online professional development as a part of their professional nursing organization (Hassmiller, 2012). These programs can facilitate webinars and professional development meetings that have poster presentation sessions and other discussions that will help professionals relate their specialty practice to emerging technology and new techniques.

To enhance web-based continuing education in terms of the DNP program, it would be beneficial for nurses to engage in a mentorship program that involves a committee of supervisors in both the nurse’s health care setting and from the degree granting institution (Lathrop & Hodnicki, 2014). Bi-monthly meetings will allow the committee to develop new goals for the individual’s professional development and provide the nurse trainee with an opportunity to ask questions or find more ways to become involved with the advanced nursing practice initiative. Since the amount of time one spends in their health care setting is often very busy due to the demands for patient care, it would be beneficial to allow these individuals some time to reflect upon their practice with fellow professionals to determine how they could improve in terms of research initiatives, the integration of technology in practice, and integration of evidence-based techniques. This will ultimately contribute to an enhanced quality of patient care.

References

Hassmiller, S.B. (2012). Professional Development: Nurses on Boards. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 112(3): 61–66.

Lathrop, B., Hodnicki, D. (2014). The Affordable Care Act: Primary Care and the Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(2).