Discuss how health policy and initiatives are used to guide and direct your clinical practice as an Advanced Practice Nurse

Health initiatives are part of the drivers used in making improvements to the nursing care practices. One of the things that have always ensured that health policies and promotion form part of nursing care is the increased demand for better health care services by the patients.

Over the years, various health initiatives and policies have been established to help in guiding nursing practice, hence influencing various nurse roles. As an Advanced Practice Nurse, there are four main health policies and initiatives that guide my clinical practice. They include the patient protection affordable Act, the IOM report, the doctor of nursing practice movement, and the Advanced Practice Nurse regulation (Altman et al., 2016). This brief paper explores those health policies and initiatives.

Policies and Initiatives

The APRN regulation Consensus Model recommends that an individual possesses a single advanced practice registered nurse license that allows independent practice devoid of regulatory obligation for physician collaborative agreement or supervision. The IOM report gives recommendations that drive nursing forward. The aim is for every nurse professional to proceed with education and ultimately achieve a nursing practice doctorate.

Besides, the report also directs that the scope of nursing practice barriers be removed and that the nurses use evidence-based practice in the professional work. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act pointed to the need to redesign the healthcare system and raise the number of primary care providers leading to the expansion of the practice scope and roles of registered nurses. As an APRN, there are, therefore, various health policies and initiatives that guide my practice, even though some of the initiatives have not been fully implemented.

In conclusion, the presence of the mentioned resources are vital in ensuring that the healthcare system continues to grow, and with the APRNs getting recognition as part of the frontrunners in offering primary care such as chronic condition management and preventive services, the policies and initiatives will only make the nurses serve better and give the patients better care.

References

• Altman, S. H., Butler, A. S., & Shern, L. (Eds.). (2016). Assessing progress on the Institute of Medicine report The Future of Nursing. DOI http //www.nap.edu/21838
  Dubree, M., Jones, P., Kapu, A., & Parmley, C. L. (2015). APRN practice Challenges, empowerment, and outcomes. Nurse Leader, 13(2), 43-49. DOI 10.1016/j.mnl.2015.01.007