APN Practice

Sample Answer

Advanced practice nursing (APN) is a nursing field that widens and expands the boundaries of the nursing scope of practice, contributing to nursing knowledge and advancing the nursing profession.

Nurses with the APN designation are more autonomous in their practice and provide new ways of providing cost-effective care. They also increase access to practitioners for numerous patients and families. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how APN practice demonstrates cost-effectiveness, influences reduction in errors, and causes misuse or overuse of services.

How APN Practice Demonstrates Cost-Effectiveness

APN cost-effectiveness is not determined by the actual practice setting but is evidenced in primary, acute, and long-term care settings. Substantial evidence shows that advanced practice nurses (APNs) have demonstrated to be cost-effective healthcare providers of high-quality care (Abraham et al., 2019).

APNs have been found to provide comparable or better medical care at a lower cost than physicians. Besides, APNs working in a physician practice were found to lower the cost of patient visits by nearly one-third, mostly when managing patients independently rather than under physician supervision.

Abraham et al. (2019) found that APNs are cost-effective in medication management, particularly in the care management of chronic diseases in adults. Besides, primary care settings with more APNs in care delivery had lesser labor costs per patient visit than settings with fewer APNs The study also established that APNs were cost-effective providers for ambulatory care in primary and ambulatory care facilities.

How APN Practice Can Influence Reduction in Errors

In most cases, errors are caused by poor communication between the nursing staff and physicians. APN practice can promote reduced errors since APNs are trained and equipped with collaboration skills and teamwork. Therefore, they apply these skills in leading interdisciplinary teams.

As a leader of the interdisciplinary teams, the APN ensures procedures are planned and standardized, each member has a clear role, and encourages the team members to be vigilant and notice errors before they worsen (Kalmakis, 2020). Furthermore, APNs help create effective interdisciplinary teams, where members trust each other’s judgments and focus on the other’s safety concerns.

This significantly decreases errors that often worsen patient outcomes and increase healthcare costs (Kalmakis, 2020). In addition, APNs provide leadership to other nurses by constantly reminding the nurses of the rights of medication administration and overseeing the implementation of these rights to avoid medication errors.

How APN Practice Effects Misuse or Overuse Of Services

Misuse and overuse of healthcare services are challenges that affect the quality and cost of care. APN practice is considered important in enhancing the efficiency of healthcare delivery and waste reduction from misuse and overuse of health services.

It surpasses diagnosing and treating a patient’s disease and addresses holistic healthcare needs, including counseling on diet and exercise (Razavi et al., 2021). This prevents the overuse of services when a patient is forced to seek different services from different professionals, which often results in duplication of services and high costs.

Conclusion

APN practice is connected with positive health outcomes, including increased access to health education and preventive care, improved patient satisfaction, and self-management of chronic illnesses. APNs provide high-quality and cost-effective care. They also help lower errors by strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration. APN practice involves providing holistic care, which prevents misuse and overuse of services.

References

• Abraham, C. M., Norful, A. A., Stone, P. W., & Poghosyan, L. (2019). Cost-Effectiveness of Advanced Practice Nurses Compared to Physician-Led Care for Chronic Diseases A Systematic Review. Nursing economic$, 37(6), 293–305.
  
• Kalmakis, K. A. (2020). Beyond the discipline Nurse practitioner members and leaders of interdisciplinary research teams. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 33(5), 405–408. https //doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000376
  
• Razavi, M., O’Reilly-Jacob, M., Perloff, J., & Buerhaus, P. (2021). Drivers of Cost Differences Between Nurse Practitioner and Physician Attributed Medicare Beneficiaries. Medical care, 59(2), 177–184. https //doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001477