In the present-day environment, advanced practice nursing involves operating in a highly diverse environment and collaborating with different experts across a variety of disciplines, which suggests that the process can be impeded by a variety of factors. For an advanced practice nurse (APN), it is vital to be aware of core obstacles to implementing the relevant practice and meeting patients’ needs. Despite the fact that the integration of innovative technology, including both tools for diagnosing, managing, and preventing diseases, and devices for enhanced communication, nurses still encounter issues in addressing patients’ needs. Since the core barriers to advanced nursing practice presently include regulatory and institutional ones, as well as culture- and diversity-related obstacles, strategies for collaborating with authorities to shape the current nursing policies, as well as tools for enhancing nurse-patient communication, must be utilized.
The problem of misaligned policies and the associated impediments to implementing appropriate nursing practices should be considered to be the most obvious concerns to be addressed as soon as possible. The urgency of the issue is justified by the complicated epidemiologic situation in the global setting, as well as on the local level. (Torrens et al., 2020). Specifically, with the ongoing threat to public health, the necessity to create the regulations that enhance the efficacy of advanced practice nurses’ performance is evident. For this reason, the focus on collaboration between advanced practice nurses and the associated regulatory authorities must be placed immediately. By shedding light on some of the current issues observed in the nursing setting, including the challenges associated with the treatment and diagnosing processes, advanced practice nurses will be able to improve the current regulatory standards so that the number of positive patient outcomes could increase. Specifically, the concerns regarding the off-label medication prescriptions, as well as the lack of research in relation to effective, high-quality care for women, children, and other vulnerable groups, must be prioritized.
Furthermore, another obstacle to be addressed in the present-day environment of advanced nursing practice is linked to the issue of communication. For instance, the nurse-patient dialogue needs to be reinforced to minimize the extent of myths associated with health management and perpetuated in a range of communities despite the efforts to introduce vulnerable groups to effective diagnostic and treatment measures (Blackwood et al., 2019). Additionally, patient health education must be promoted as a general goal so that major health issues and the related complications could be avoided. Moreover, patient education will entail a better understanding of core threats and the patient’s ability to notice one at an early stage so that a nurse could diagnose an issue and address it accordingly (Torrens et al., 2020). Therefore, nurse-patient communication must be prioritized. Similarly, interdisciplinary collaboration should be regarded as a vital tool in overcoming the communication barriers in nursing practice.
Presently, core barriers to advanced nursing practice can be split into institutional and communication-related ones, which suggests that an advanced practice nurse should engage actively in shaping the current nursing policies, while also working toward improving patient communication. Specifically, IT and ICT tools must be incorporated into the communication process in order to manage the issue of nurse-patient communication, whereas enhanced collaboration must be established between nurses and legal authorities to ensure that the relevant policies reflect the current advanced practice environment and the associated requirements. Thus, positive changes will be introduced to the advanced nursing practice context.
References
Blackwood, D. H., Walker, D., Mythen, M. G., Taylor, R. M., & Vindrola‐Padros, C. (2019). Barriers to advance care planning with patients as perceived by nurses and other healthcare professionals: a systematic review. Journal of clinical nursing, 28(23-24), 4276-4297.
Torrens, C., Campbell, P., Hoskins, G., Strachan, H., Wells, M., Cunningham, M., Bottone, H., Polson, R., & Maxwell, M. (2020). Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the advanced nurse practitioner role in primary care settings: A scoping review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 104, 1-21. Web.