NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay
NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay
NURS 6565: Synthesis in Advanced Practice Care of Complex Patients in Primary Care Settings
 
Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills
Nurse practitioners require essential clinical skills in order to competently practice as nurses. Risk Control Self-Assessment Checklist for Nurse Practitioners is a tool used by nurse practitioners to examine risk exposures allied to their current practice. Therefore, the tool can help nurse practitioners to identify their areas of weaknesses and strengths and thus improve on their weakness NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay. This purpose of this paper is to evaluate and plan for strengths and weaknesses, to assist in my development as a nurse practitioner.
Strengths
My strengths include reliability, honesty and integrity, and utilizing evidence-based research for patient care. I consider the use of evidence-based research for patient care my greatest strength because an evidence-based practice has been shown to improve care and lead to improved care outcomes (Correa-de-Araujo, 2016). I plan to regularly conduct research in order to identify the latest evidence and apply it in my practice.
Reliability is also my area of strength. I am able to fulfill obligations reliably and responsibly and I follow through on my assigned duties. In addition, I always comply with policies and regulations NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay. I plan to always behave consistently and fulfill all my duties dependably.
Additionally, I always uphold honesty and integrity. Honesty and integrity are some core values that nurses should uphold in practice so that they can provide the best quality of care to patients (Poorchangizi et al., 2019).  I always do my best to uphold integrity and honesty by following policies, practices, codes, and guidelines established by various professional bodies and my workplace. I plan to continue adhering to the set rules and regulations in any organization I work in and also follow the codes of practice set by the relevant professional bodies.
Weaknesses
My major weaknesses encompass communicating with physicians, time management, and lack of clinical experience. Regarding communication, I experience communication interruption when interacting with physicians. The hierarchies involved when it comes to communication with physicians further complicate the issue. Effective communication between physicians and nurses is vital for the quality and safety of patient care (Vermeir et al., 2015). I plan to improve my communication with physicians by using structured communication tools such as ISBAR. NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay.
Time management is another major weakness I often experience. There is difficulty with   timely completion of all my assigned patients and fulfilling the charting duties.   With only fifteen-minute slots, there are times visits can turn in to more than one issue and then I may experience delays. I plan to improve on my weaknesses by planning and scheduling my activities and duties accordingly with time allotted. I also plan to keep on a focused track when talking with patients.
Finally, I discovered that a lack of clinical experience is another major weakness. This weakness is attributable to the fact that I have not practiced in my specialty. Therefore, I plan to improve on this by engaging in clinical skills relevant to my specialty and learning from my seniors and other experienced practitioners in the field. With this, I will gain the necessary clinical experience NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay.
Needed Clinical Skills
The three clinical skills I need to obtain before exiting the program include effective communication skills; complete comprehensive and accurate assessment for patients; and provision of patient education. I plan to master communication skills by practicing effective communication skills such as active listening, using appropriate body language, interacting with my peers respectfully, and being empathic during communications. For assessment, I plan to regularly perform patient assessment and seek advice from my senior when necessary. Finally, I plan to seek advice from my mentor on how to perform effective patient education and practice whenever possible.
History of Advanced Practice Nurses
The inception of the role of advanced practice nurses started in the 1960s when nurse practitioners were identified as being essential in order to serve a combination of needs. During this period, there was a shortage of physicians especially in the rural areas and hence the role of advanced practice nurses was seen to be essential to meet the health needs of underserved rural residents and others who are unable to access care (Hu & Forgeron, 2018).
The role of the family nurse practitioner (FNP) was first introduced within early 1970s. The role of the FNP was among the first nurse practitioner programs developed at the University of Washington within 1971. This role started when it was established that the primary healthcare was not meeting the immediate health needs of Americans and later health institutions were funded to introduce family practice programs NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay. The role of the FNP was planned to meet the growing rates of chronic problems like diabetes and to serve the needs of the vulnerable and underserved populations. Family nurse practitioners provide numerous acute, preventative, and chronic healthcare services within the community (Hu & Forgeron, 2018).
As an advanced nurse practitioner, I plan to contribute to policy development and introduce reform in healthcare. I plan to advocate for improved care supported by the latest research evidence. As an FNP, I plan to use research evidence to manage chronic diseases, and coordinate care provided specialty physicians accordingly.
References
Correa-de-Araujo R. (2016). Evidence-Based Practice in the United States: Challenges, Progress, and Future Directions. Health care for women international, 37(1), 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2015.1102269.
Hu, J., & Forgeron, P. (2018). Thinking, educating, acting: Developing advanced practice nursing. International journal of nursing sciences, 5(2), 99–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.04.006.
Poorchangizi, B., Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A. et al. (2019). The importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspectives. BMC Nurs, 18(26). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0351-1.
Vermeir, P., Vandijck, D., Degroote, S., Peleman, R., Verhaeghe, R., Mortier, E., Hallaert, G., Van Daele, S., Buylaert, W., & Vogelaers, D. (2015). Communication in healthcare: a narrative review of the literature and practical recommendations. International journal of clinical practice, 69(11), 1257–1267. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.12686.
Woo, B., Lee, J., & Tam, W. (2017). The impact of the advanced practice nursing role on the quality of care, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost in the emergency and critical care settings: a systematic review. Human resources for health, 15(1), 63. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-017-0237-9. NURS 6565 Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills Essay