Purpose

The purpose of the graded collaborative discussions is to engage faculty and students in an interactive dialogue to assist the student in organizing, integrating, applying, and critically appraising knowledge regarding advanced nursing practice. Scholarly information obtained from credible sources as well as professional communication are required. Application of information to professional experiences promotes the analysis and use of principles, knowledge, and information learned and related to real-life professional situations. Meaningful dialogue among faculty and students fosters the development of a learning community as ideas, perspectives, and knowledge are shared.

Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

• Demonstrate logical and creative thinking in the analysis and application of a theory to nursing practice. (PO 2 and 5) Weeks 2, 6
• Examine broad theoretical concepts as foundational to advanced nursing practice roles. (PO 1 and 2) Weeks 1, 2, 4
• Analyze theories from nursing and relevant fields with respect to the components, relationship among the components, and application to advanced nursing practice. (PO 1) Weeks 4, 6

Requirements:

Discussion Criteria  

1. Application of Course Knowledge: The student post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from the healthcare field. The student must accurately and fully discuss the topic for the week in addition to providing personal or professional examples. The student must completely answer the entire initial question. 
2. Integration of Evidence: The student post provides support from a minimum of one scholarly in-text citation with a matching reference andassigned readings or online lessons, per discussion topic per week.
   • What is a scholarly resource? A scholarly resource is one that comes from a professional, peer-reviewed publication (e.g., journals and government reports such as those from the FDA or CDC). 
     • Contains references for sources cited 
     • Written by a professional or scholar in the field and indicates credentials of the author(s) 
     • Is no more than 5 years old for clinical or research articles 
   • What is not considered a scholarly resource?  
     • Newspaper articles and layperson literature (e.g., Readers Digest, Healthy Life Magazine, Food, and Fitness) 
     • Information from Wikipedia  or any wiki 
     • Textbooks 
     • Website homepages 
     • The weekly lesson 
     • Articles in healthcare and nursing-oriented trade magazines, such as Nursing Made Incredibly Easy and RNMagazine (Source: What is a scholarly article.docx; Created 06/09 CK/CL  Revised: 02/17/11,  09/02/11  nlh/clm) 
   • Can the lesson for the week be used as a scholarly source? 
     • Information from the weekly lesson can be cited in a posting; however, it is not to be the sole source used in the post. 
   • Are resources provided from CU acceptable sources (e.g., the readings for the week)? 
     • Not as a sole source within the post. The textbook and/or assigned (required) articles for the week can be used, but another outside source must be cited for full credit. Textbooks are not considered scholarly sources for the purpose of discussions. 
   • Are websites acceptable as scholarly resources for discussions? 
     • Yes, if they are documents or data cited from credible websites. Credible websites usually end in .gov or .edu; however, some .org sites that belong to professional associations (e.g., American Heart Association, National League for Nursing, American Diabetes Association) are also considered credible websites. Websites ending with .com are not to be used as scholarly resources.
     • Professionalism in Communication: The post presents information in logical, meaningful, and understandable sequence, and is clearly relevant to the discussion topic. Grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation are accurate.

  Preparing the Assignment

For many students enrolled in NR501, this is an initial course for nursing theory. So, let’s have a debate. Is nursing theory important to the nursing profession? In particular, is it important for nurse practitioners? Does theory inform nurse practitioner practice? If you believe that it is important, explain why it is useful. If you do not believe that it is useful, explain why nursing theory is not necessary to the profession? 

Integration of Evidence: Assigned readings or online lesson and at least one outside scholarly source are included. The scholarly source is: 

1) evidence-based, 2) scholarly in nature, 3) published within the last 5 years 

Reflection: write 1-2 paragraphs reflecting on your learning for the week. Guiding questions are provided or you may write about what you felt was most significant to you for the week. 

What were the most important concepts you learned in week 1? Why are these concepts important? How will they prepare you for your future role as a nurse practitioner? In what ways do you feel prepared for your new role? In what ways do you feel unprepared?

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to provide an analysis and synthesis-level evaluation of the factors that influence both contemporary advanced practice nursing and the time-period of transition that occurs within the first year of clinical practice.

Activity Learning Outcomes

Through this discussion, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Reflect on the elements of a successful transition from Registered Nurse to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse. (CO 5)
2. Evaluate the patient-centered medical home, value-based payment, and interdisciplinary care models espoused by the Medicare Access and CHIP  Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and its’ impact on the quality of  healthcare. (CO 2, 5) 

Requirements:

Part 1: Using Brown and Olshansky’s (1997) model,  describe what interventions you plan to do during your first year of practice to help you navigate the changes described during each phase.

Part 2: We are seeing a rapid change in primary care as stakeholders are demanding higher quality healthcare at reduced costs. After reading the Cuenca (2017) and Shi, et al. (2017) articles,  provide a synthesis-level evaluation of how you believe the patient-centered medical home and value-based payment models will: (1)  impact your personal practice as a nurse practitioner, and (2) transform the way primary care is delivered in the United States.

Part 3: After reading the AANP (2015) and White, et al. (2017) articles, what are your thoughts on the economic benefits of using nurse practitioners in healthcare practices? How would you respond to this question if asked in a job interview? Support your response in  Part 3 with evidence from the literature.