Advanced Practice Nurse: Roles, Responsibilities, and Certified Nurse Midwives

Running head: ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE 1
Advanced Practice Nurse
Name
Institution

ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE 2
Advanced Practice Nurse
Introduction
Nursing is a big discipline where, for one to qualify as a nurse, one has to possess
excellent competencies on the theories, approaches, values, and practicalities of health care.
Nursing has therefore become one of the most prestigious disciplines because it gives everyone
an opportunity to advance the career. In Australia, for instance, as one has the right education
and meets other prerequisite qualifications, one can advance from the level of a Registered Nurse
(RN) to an Advanced Registered Nurse (ARN). Serving as an ARN is a bit demanding because it
comes with lots of duties, responsibilities, and challenges. However, it is what every other nurse
aspires for because it is prestigious and regarded as the apex of nursing career. The purpose of
this paper is to present a detailed and comprehensive analysis of ARN. It will later narrow down
to a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM).
Who is an Advanced Registered Nurse (ARN)?
ARN is a registered nurse who, as its name suggests, is a more advanced nurse that is
allowed to perform the duties and responsibilities which were initially reserved for the
physicians. For one to be an ARN, one has to have a Master’s Degree in Nursing. That kind of
education is required because an ARN differs from the ordinary RNs who perform basic primary
healthcare roles such as the assessment and monitoring of the patient’s condition (Melnyk,
Gallagher‐Ford, Long & Fineout‐Overholt, 2014). In Australia, there are different kinds of ARNs
depending on the area of specialization. These include the Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse
Practitioners, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, and Clinical Nurse Specialists. Each of
these nurses has expertise training on their respective areas of specialization (Yee, Boukus, Cross

ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE 3
& Samuel, 2013). Meaning, for one to serve in any of these capacities, one must have the
required education, experience, and competencies that can enable them to serve diligently and to
the satisfaction of the public.
Roles of ARN
ARNs differ from the RNs because they perform different tasks. Unlike their RN
counterparts, the ARNs are allowed to discharge more complex roles some of which were earlier
reserved for the doctors alone. However, with their expertise training, knowledge, and
experience, the ARNs can be relied upon to supplement the physicians (Kleinpell, 2013).
Although some operate under the supervision of physicians, others discharge their roles
autonomously, but in collaboration with the physicians. This means that, unlike the RNs, ARNs
have a deeper understanding of clinical competencies such as complex decision-making (Yee,
Boukus, Cross & Samuel, 2013). However, in terms of performance, the ARNs are obliged to
execute the following roles:
First, the ARNs are responsible for the delivery of direct care to the patients. Actually,
this is the basic function of a nurse. During their training, the ARNs are equipped with the skills
that they use in attending to individual patients who are brought under their care. Therefore,
whenever they get an opportunity to do this, the ARNs are required to perform a wide range of
activities including the assessment of the patient’s condition (Kleinpell, et al., 2014). The
assessment process which is the most essential component of treating can be done by analyzing
the medical history of the patient as well as the carrying out of a test to assess the vital signs such
as temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and breathing rates. Once this is done, the ARN nurse

ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE 4
then diagnoses the patient, before coming up with a treatment plan for the patient. Apart from
offering such services, the ARN has a privilege of prescribing drugs to the patients.
Secondly, the ARN has a responsibility to participate in the nursing administration
process. The advanced training that the ARNs obtain not only prepares them to be directly
involved in the caring of the patients. It also prepares them to serve as leaders in their respective
healthcare organizations. Leadership is more challenging because it requires the ARNs to be in
charge of other members of the nursing staff under them (Murphy, Staffileno & Foreman, 2017).
Meaning, for this task to be effectively discharged, the ARN must possess basic competencies
like effective interpersonal communication skills and must be ready to act as a role model whose
actions can be emulated by the workers. At the same time, serving in a leadership position
requires an ARN to be a team player who is always ready to collaborate and cooperate with
everyone (Hain & Fleck, 2014). Further still, to succeed as a leader, the ARN must know how to
apply the most appropriate leadership styles and strategies which suit the workers.
Last, but by no means the least, the ARN has a mandate to take part in the formulation
and implementation of health and nursing policies in the country. Although most of the policies
are made by the higher political authorities, they are always influenced by the involved
professionals and other relevant stakeholders such as the nurses. This, therefore, implies that
individual ARNs also have a role to play in the development of such policies (Begley, Elliott,
Lalor, Coyne, Higgins & Comiskey, 2013). The first way through which ARNs contribute
towards this course is by engaging in research and publication. Besides, the ARN can participate
in the advocacy process. Here, the ARNs can come together and use their association to petition
the government and give suggestions regarding the new policies that the government needs to
adopt as it strives to improve the welfare of the nurses and improve the quality of healthcare