Essay

Family Nurse Practitioner in the Geriatric Hospital

Introduction

A Family Nurse Practitioner provides direct care to patients in the hospital setting and the family unit. The FNP works in collaboration with families, meaning that the FNPs have diverse roles which involve disease prevention, health promotion, and counseling, among others. For instance, the nurses are trained to treat intricate health conditions and diagnose the conditions of the mind and the body. Due to their advanced training, FNPs serve as clinical and hospital administrators, as well as policymakers. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the type of organization that fits the Family Nurse Practitioner and implement a clinical role that suits the selected organization.

Organization

Case study

An example of an organization that suits the MSN graduate role is the Geriatric hospital. The hospital is located in Virginia and is operated by the department of behavioral health and developmental services. The Piedmont Geriatric Hospital is the only hospital setting that treats people who have more than 65 years of age. These people are treated for mental illness and do not have a medical priority for special or voluntary care.

Type of Organization

Employment in a geriatric hospital is vital because it provides the practitioner with adequate knowledge of dealing with the aged persons. The MSN specialty track is the Family Nurse Practitioner. People with mental challenges are likely to enhance the experience of the FNP in dealing with people with some disability. The organization is essential to the education of a MSN graduate because it is used as a platform for training university students, vocational schools and colleges. Besides, the geriatric hospital is an ideal area of practice for the FNP because it encompasses different activities that help to exploit the nursing skills. Working with this specific hospital will expand the functions of the Nurse Practitioner as the nurse can leave some work to focus on the emergency cases.

Type and Number of Clients

The Geriatric Hospital is a setting that employs numerous clients and patients who are served by the different practitioners. The setting expands the functions of the Nurse Practitioner as the nurse understands the diverse ways of dealing with patients by acquiring inter-professional settings. Herein, the organization can serve up to 123 patients. However, the Family Nurse Practitioner can serve 10 patients per shift in the Geriatric Hospital. The hospital offers in-patient services for the aged persons. In the hospital setting, the Nurse Practitioner develops the ability to deal with people with mental problems and those with complicated health issues such as the advanced stages of mental dysfunction. In this, they learn to identify those who require acute care.

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Professional Nursing Role

MSN Specialty Track Role

Nurse practitioners in the Geriatric Hospital employ the specific specialty track role to meet the needs of the patients. The role will be utilized by providing care through observing, checking patient well-being, attending to self-recorded logs, and functioning in the on-site tracking segment. FNPs utilize their expertise to provide support to a wide range of patients, as well as clinical care to patients in the healthcare setting.

Reasons to Hire the Specialty Track

The Geriatric Hospital will hire the specialty track because the family nurse practitioners have the knowledge of providing care to people with acute and chronic illnesses. In this, the group will be the appropriate fit for the aged persons as they will utilize their knowledge to provide care based on their experience. Besides, working in the Geriatric Hospital will enhance the ability to interact with patients suffering from mental illnesses. The nurses will perform diagnostic procedures and tests and also conduct physical exams. The FNPs will acquire the knowledge to treat patients in the hospital after working in the setting for some while. Therefore, the FNP acquire advanced practice knowledge through training and experience gained from interacting with patients in the healthcare location.

Career Opportunity

The Geriatric Hospital is a perfect career opportunity because it trains the practitioner on how to care for the aged persons. Besides, the elderly persons provide intangible rewards to the practitioners as they are quick to comply with instructions. Again, the care giving jobs are in great demand and therefore, offer reliable mainstream of opportunities.

Career goals

A FNP will always desire to provide home-based care to people with acute illnesses. The aim of choosing this specialty track was to provide care at the family unit. Therefore, the career goal of providing care to people in the community is achieved through the vision, mission, and goal of the Geriatric Hospital which focuses on providing health services to the frail, aged, and the ill in the community, institutions, and the home setting.

Implementation of the MSN Specialty Track Role

Plans and Strategies for implementing the Specialty Track Role

The role of the Family Nurse Practitioner is important to the Geriatric Hospital because it will provide advanced nursing care to the patients. It should be noted that the nurse practitioner has the capacity to provide similar services as those of the FNP. The Nurse Practitioner can work in both the hospital setting and the family unit. In this, the practitioner will use her ability to treat patients in both settings to meet her goals. Besides, the practitioner can attend to any emergent situation just like the FNP. Therefore, the MSN Specialty track role will be developed through the provision of care to patients in a wide setting. Besides, the nurse practitioner is authorized to manage and diagnose many chronic illnesses, thus; the aged in the Geriatric Hospital will receive adequate care. The FNP will use the specialty role to meet the health needs of the aged. Besides, the specialty track role will be implemented in the Geriatric Hospital because it provides both hospital and home setting services. Therefore, the FNP will have the chance to deal with patients from both areas. Again, the nurse practitioner can write prescriptions and work directly with patients.

The Key Stakeholders

The key stakeholders in the plan for specialty care will be the patients, clients, and those in the family unit. The other FNPs and NPs will also participate in the provision of care to the mentally challenged persons. The fact that the hospital deals with aged persons means that the family of the patients must be involved in the provision of care. Therefore, the family members will be part of the major stakeholders in the healing process.

Potential Barriers

Some of the potential barriers include the patients failure to collaborate in the treatment process due to the mental problems. The failure of the family to participate may also yield to problems in the process of recovery. In the case where the patients language or culture is different from that of the practitioner may yield to potential barriers to the provision of health care.

Strategies to implement the role

As a family nurse practitioner, it is important to create a friendly relationship with the mentally-challenged patients to provide treatment to them. In this, the strategy is vital as it will enable them to cooperate, enabling them to benefit from the medications.

State Board of Nursing and Nurse Practice Act

Board of Nursing

One of the boards of nursing is the Nurse Practice Act of Florida. The board supports the FNP role in nursing by guiding to the performance of the duties specified by NPA. The board presents the requirements of the other professions and the nurse practitioner. According to the law, the Nurse Practitioner should perform as stipulated in the act. The protocols of the nurse practice are renewed after a period of thirty days, which mandates the NP to adhere to these rules.

NPA Relevant to Specialty Track

The NPA requires the FNP to act in accordance with the regulatory requirements of the Florida board. The practitioner should direct and maintain supervision to the different areas of the healthcare setting. The drug therapies should be monitored and altered to provide fitting health conditions, as well as the performance of the additional works required by the diagnostic tests and the occupational therapy. The roles established by the roles of the Florida board match the roles required of nurse practitioners. The provision of direct care is the most significant element as it guides to the improvement of health services.

Elements of the Nursing Board

Some elements of the nursing board such as the evaluation of the supplementary lab results, physical assessment, and the patients history of illness guide to the implementation of the specialty role. In this, the FNP should adhere to these rules to avoid breaching the law. Professional organizational resources such as counseling and education will enable the nurse to work freely with the mentally challenged patients. If these roles are not found within the FNP, then, it will be hard to provide treatment to the aged since they may be experiencing hard times of mental dismay.

Conclusion

The Geriatric Hospital is an organization that provides services related to those of the family nurse practitioner. The selection of the organization should be directed by the impact of the practitioner on the patients. In this, the specialty role can be implemented through the provision of direct care to the aged in the hospital. The nurse can utilize the professional resources because the hospital encompasses patients in the hospital and others in the family unit.