For any thoughts or ideas you may have on how we can improve our Nursing Programs, handbooks or curriculum, please upload here. In addition, if you have any suggestions for improvement for the Dean to consider.
Nursing-Program Improvement and Suggestions to the Dean
The family nurse practitioner (FNP) role helps the U.S healthcare system meet the ever-growing demand for accessible, affordable, quality, and safe preventive and curative care within the family care settings. However, the efficiency of the FNP role is based on the quality of the FNP educational programs and preparation for real practice. I am in the MSN-FNP Program at United States University. Based on personal experience and a literature review, I provide critical suggestions that I believe will help improve the FNP Program.
Firstly, it is apparent that a majority of FNPs, like any other advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) roles, are affected by role ambiguity. This impacts their self-confidence during the transition into practice. Role ambiguity has been reported across all APRN roles ((Nixon et al., 2019). Role ambiguity is a barrier to the transition of student nurses into practice within primary care settings (Faraz, 2019). Role ambiguity also contributes to role conflict, burnout, increased dissatisfaction, and turnover intentions (Clark et al., 2019).
The FNP program would benefit from a program that focuses on improving role understanding among MSN-FNP students and student-to-practice transition. The learning program includes building soft skills and abilities besides their technical skills. The programs should focus on building nurse confidence, self-efficacy, family-centered communication, inter-group and interprofessional communication, and professional identity. This will require interdisciplinary input through academic-practice partnerships to provide guidance, mentoring, and a supportive work environment to improve their confidence during the transition. Research shows that mentorship, social support, and helping student NPs find meaning in their role helped novice NPs transition efficiently from education to primary care practice (Faraz, 2019). Additionally, Urbanowicz (2019) notes that a transition program focused on clinical readiness, leadership skills, communication, and professional identity support APRNs’ transition into independent practice.
References
Clark, M. A., Early, R. J., Baltes, B. B., & Krenn, D. (2019). Work-Family Behavioral Role Conflict: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of Business and Psychology 2018 34:1, 34(1), 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10869-017-9529-2