Role, Skills and Challenges of Nurse Practitioners in Dermatology Clinical Speciality Field

This report discusses the role of Nurse Practitioners in Dermatology clinical speciality field, specific skills required by them, and challenges faced by them. It also explores the impact of NP on quality treatment. The report highlights the importance of communication, leadership, analytical skills, patience, inquisitiveness, flexibility, and caring nature for NP in dermatology. The challenges faced by NP include emotional work, differing hours, power imbalance, prohibited practice settings, greater stress level, and skill maintenance.

Project 3

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Discussing role of Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical specialist field:..........................3
Discussing specific skills required by the Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical speciality
field:.............................................................................................................................................5
Discussing challenges faced by the Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical speciality field:
.....................................................................................................................................................7
CO NCLUSION............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Nursing is one of the broadest area to be examined, practice and speciality of health care
worker promote health betterment in the country. Nursing specialist including Nurse practitioner
(NP) play major role in providing quality of service to the patient, using specific skills and
ability, NP have capabilities to deliver care to patient. NP need specific skills and quality to
maintain treatment quality, these practitioners currently remain in practice dealing in health care
of patient (Welton and Harper, 2016). Every health care professional or surgeon need NP before,
during and after the operation or surgery of the patient, this NP has major role in the nursing
process. This report will discuss concept of Nurse practitioner including the clinical speciality
field and explore nurse practitioner impact on quality treatment. Later this report will discuss
specific skills of Nurse practitioner including those abilities and capabilities to deliver quality of
service. At last, this report will discuss challenges faced by the NP while providing clinical
service to the patient or in clinical situation.
MAIN BODY
Discussing role of Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical specialist field:
Nurse practitioner in Dermatology have specific role in providing skin care and treatment
to the patient, Dermatology is one of the clinical speciality area in which skin related treatment
are been provided to the patient, NP play vital role in this area, they not only provide care and
treatment to patient, but they design certain type of surgery for cosmetic (Torrens and et.al.,
2020). Nurse practitioner provide medication and perform many in-office procedure to manage
clinical quality of treatment, Dermatology is specialist area in which NP have to focus on niche
work with cosmetic, they might even perform surgery with experience and permission to perform
surgical operation. There are certain roles of nurse practitioner in Dermatology as clinical
specialist field, these are:
Role to perform Cosmetic dermatology intervention: Nurse practitioner are responsible to
provide cosmetic intervention and treatment to patient facing skin health problem, NP have role
to design cosmetic surgery addressing patient health issue. Nurse practitioner perform
cryotherapy in the clinical area in which they need to provide skin care procedure to the patient
(Whitehead and et.al., 2022). Cryotherapy is process to remove abnormal tissue from the skin
allowing patient to have glowing and clear skin, this is cosmetic procedure to remove dead skin

and reduce chances of skin cancer, NP have role to perform cryotherapy with proper equipment
and procedure.
Role to design phototherapy cosmetic solution: Nurse practitioner have major role in the
nursing area, mainly in dermatology, nurse have to focus on treating patient with specialized care
procedure. NP have role to design phototherapy for patient, this is process of using light (Not
sunlight) to remove blood clot from dead skin which impact toning of the skin. NP have role to
practice phototherapy on patient demanding cosmetic therapy for skin care, NP might design
phototherapy procedure allowing them to consider quality of treatment. This is specialized role
of NP in the clinic, patient might depend on NP for better skin health.
Role of Wound management: Nurse practitioner have specific role in the clinic allowing them
to manage patient and delivery of quality treatment, wound management is one of the most
common type of role performed by NP in the process (Kerr and Macaskill, 2020). Dermatology
is process of treating skin with certain procedure and surgery which might impact skin of patient
and might create wound which need to be treated. Cosmetic surgical wound be become skin
cancer if not proper treated by the nurse practitioner in the process. NP have role to manage
wound and any other skin issue faced by the patient in the clinic or during treatment.
Role of Prescribing medication: This is one of the most important role of nurse practitioner
allowing them to focus on providing medication to the patient, every patient have their own level
of medical requirement, NP need to identify their medical condition and should provide
medication accordingly. However, prescribing medication is not possible for all NP because this
requires permission and authority from senior. In dermatology, NP might prescribe medication as
this is related to the cosmetic process. Prescribing medication is quite risky in dermatology as
well because this might lead patient to skin cancer.
Role of Lab testing: Nurse practitioner have role of testing medical element in lab to find better
solution, in cosmetic surgery, patient might have different skin problem which need to be
managed with the help of lab testing method (Bobonich and Nolen, 2018). NP have
responsibility to test the patient and other medical element, testing patient simply means tracking
infection in the skin area allowing practitioner to provide better treatment. In dermatology, lab
testing is one of the most important thing which allow practitioner to examine health condition of
the patient, this provides information about health condition of the patient and help them to
follow type of care procedure.

Role to Provide care: This is one of the most common practice of nurse practitioner in the
process, providing care simply means undertaking every measure for the betterment of patient
health. This role allows NP to ensure patient health remain better, they might perform certain
task by their own including prescribing medication, concerning doctor and clinical advice
(Buckley, 2021). Providing care is primary role of NP in the nursing, providing care in
dermatology is process of managing patient health and allow them to recover much faster, NP
may have role to examine health condition of patient, they might consider goals to improve
health of patient.
Discussing specific skills required by the Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical speciality
field:
Skills plays a significant role in every aspect where it helps in carrying out their task in
efficient manner, also assists in delivering best outcomes in possible manner (Finnegan, Taylor
and Roth, 2018). As for the NP in dermatology work, nurses seem to work with different and
unidentified confusing skin disorders it might different from the general NP’s in many ways.
Some of the positive aspects that are present to which one always follows to become a better
dermatology nurse practitioner. Due to their concentration on examining the distinctive rare skin,
hair conditions, thus it is necessary for the NP’s to be more passionate as well as knowledgeable.
Some of the skills and attributes which required are as follows:
Communication skill: providing a medical treatment is important things but a successful NP
always make sure that their patient is understanding what they said to them while providing care,
and compassionate to their specific requirement. Therefore, it is important to give avenues to
overcome the language barriers as well as ensure that patient is understanding the complex
medical terms. Thus it is important to have this skill as for dermatology NP, it is one of the
important skill for them, it makes them to provide better treatment to their patients.
Better leadership skill: It is essential that when making any decision NP should consult with
patient’s family one’s and other specialist with care. NP requires to have confidence over their
knowledge and abilities to carry out better decision under any situation, an NP always need to be
professionals and should lay out the best interest of their fellow nurses as well as clients (Nelson,
and et.al, 2019). This skill assists them to become a better leader and to lead a provider team in
manner and delegate the work to deliver better patient outcomes.

Analytical skill and core competencies: Every patient situation is different thus knowledge and
skill of NP enables them to adapt the changes related to caring of patient and make changes that
based upon the situation, as for the dermatologist NP it is obvious that different people have
different skin order. Therefore, analytical skill helps in making the course correction based on
patient requirement. Core competencies further understood in leadership, quality, practice
inquiry, information literacy, ethics these are requires to follow by NP to call themselves as
successful or ethical NP.
Exhibit patience under stressful situation: At every work place setting there is surety that
people need to work under stressful situation and in a clinical setting there are major
responsibilities over NP, which means them to have better control over their emotions, it is
always recommended them to practice meditation and other exercise so that they will withstand
strong within stressful situation.
Inquisitive: This characteristic is important for the NP as in some instances they are more likely
to encounter rashes and other skin conditions which they have never seen before. In such it is
important for them to analyse the history and physical examination to found the answer.
Friendly: In most of the cases patient do not agree to underwent such treatment provided by
their physicians because of their aggressive nature. Also in some scenario patient waited for
month to visit their NP, where some of the process are very expensive which is not afforded by
people, in such they always look for the kindness and compassion from their physicians.
Therefore, it is essential for NP to have this nature which makes their patients to take prescribed
medicines.
Flexible: NP’s work is quite exhaustible where they need to deal with lots of patient with
specific medical conditions (Kerr and Macaskill, 2020). Therefore, as for dermatologist NP it is
must for them to initiate their day with sort of expectation and to also carry out unexpected work.
Caring: It is the main attribute which makes important sense in nurse partitioning, when better
care is provided to patient then it helps the patient to recover fast and better response to treatment
procedure. For an instance in Dermatology NP where one patient is having skin cancer which is
not usually a fatal but undertaking the diagnosis is scary, in such NP need to be more
compassionate and caring while providing caring to their patient during such time.

Discussing challenges faced by the Nurse practitioner in Dermatology clinical speciality field:
There are many advantages and positive factors to working as nurse practitioner, but like in
any profession there are some of the challenges as well, some of them are discussed below:
Emotional work: Any kind of service provider’s work is more emotional, as for the nurse
practitioner it does not matter what specialism and knowledge they have ultimately they plays a
significant role in people’s lives. This work can be sometimes inspiring, enjoyable, heart-
breaking as well, hence for them it is always important to develop faithful and trustful
relationship with their patients (Eddy and Duffy, 2019). Assisting people for better health in
some critical period of their live is somehow challenging for the nurses, in such they face
emotional challenge to continually working in providing better care for patients.
Differing hours: Working as an NP have lot of flexibility when it comes for working schedule,
as in clinical settings it is important that physicians or nurses should be available for the care of
patient more likely to avoid vulnerable situation. As NP requires to work in different shifts so
that patient’s treatment procedure cannot have affected, in such NP always faces a challenge in
their work life balance, as sometimes they over do work which affects their daily life. Some of
the NP also faces depression when they will not be able to keep up in differing shifts.
Dermatologist NP also works in such dynamic working conditions which affects their own life.
Power imbalance and hierarchy: At every workplace location, there is always conflict seen
among employees, as well as in clinical setting there is also an uncomfortable situation between
the nurse doctor relationship. Also it is followed in nursing community as well where an NP
works with experienced and more knowledgeable NP, it mostly continues this hierarchy, it often
called as traditional hierarchical medical system that comes as a biggest challenge for NP. In
some cases, it can be seen that NP are legally have complete rights to provide independently care
or services to their patient, but other NP can also micromanage the work as well as do not shows
trust. Thus if workplace don’t have supportive culture then it outbreaks as emotional drive for the
NP.
Prohibited practice settings: For an NP this factor depends on their state of working where they
might or might not have right for independent practice. Therefore, one of the major challenge for
the nurse practitioner is that every stage is somehow different in terms of what they do and what

they don’t do. If work place setting is restricted then for NP their scope for practices are bounded
as how they will provide care, also they are not allowing to follow their own ability or instinct.
Prohibited policies also develops the inaccurate idea like NP does not give the safest and
comprehensive treatment to patient as compared with doctors or other physicians. But there are
evidences which shows that Nurse practitioner provides the better quality services to their patient
as like treatment provided by the doctors, yet most of the people are unaware of this fact.
Therefore, this comes as major challenge for the nurse practitioner when their abilities are being
tested. As for the dermatologist NP they always face this challenge and sometimes their services
are also switched with doctors by some of their clients.
Greater stress level: Stress can find in any job profile where there are some measures which is
specially provided by the organisation (Russell and Kuensting, 2021). Within a clinical setting
there are always a pressure over the nurse practitioner to provide better treatment to their patient,
as for dermatologist NP they always encounter a rare skin illness for which they require to do
much investigation in order to find accurate treatment for their disease. When there is a lot of
work pressure then it puts lots of pressure over NP as they have to manage the patient treatment
outcome as well as to search for their rare disease.
Skill maintenance: During NP school they always learn new skills and knowledge in order to
perform better in their field and to provide care for variety of the patients. But the challenge
come when those skills which is learnt are not in use, as in some of the cases when the time
arrives when NP requires to perform their skill they fail to use it. thus it is more challenging for
them to always retain their knowledge so at some point it will help them to find solution in any
situation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that nurse practitioner work always comes with lots of
benefits and challenges as well. Above report have discussed the role played by the NP in their
field where it was found that they have major responsibility towards the care of their patients
where they perform their knowledge and skill sets in order to found better cure for their patient’s
illness. Above have mentioned the role for prescription, wound management all are efficiently
played by dermatologist NP within their clinical settings. Furthermore, report have illustrated the
range of discussion over the skills which plays essential role for NP where it highlighted the

communication, leadership, analytical skills along with some personality traits like inquisitive,
flexibility, friendly. Lastly report concluded with the discussion of challenges faced by NP
during their work.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bobonich, M. and Nolen, M., 2018. Competencies for dermatology nurse practitioners. Journal
of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(11), pp.606-613.
Buckley, D., 2021. Nursing Care of the Dermatology Patient. In Textbook of Primary Care
Dermatology (pp. 581-583). Springer, Cham.
Eddy, L. and Duffy, R., 2019. A study of the skills, education and qualifications of nurses
performing dermatological surgery in the United Kingdom. Dermatological Nursing:
The journal of the British Dermatological Nursing Group. 18(4). pp.10-15.
Finnegan, R., Taylor, J. and Roth, L., 2018. P-283 Development of nurse practitioner role in
hospice in-patient setting.
Kerr, L. and Macaskill, A., 2020. The journey from nurse to advanced nurse practitioner:
applying concepts of role transitioning. British journal of nursing, 29(10), pp.561-565.
Kerr, L. and Macaskill, A., 2020. The journey from nurse to advanced nurse practitioner:
applying concepts of role transitioning. British journal of nursing. 29(10). pp.561-565.
Nelson, L.E. and et.al, 2019. Advancing the case for nurse practitioner‐based models to
accelerate scale‐up of HIV pre‐exposure prophylaxis. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 28(1-
2), pp.351-361.
Russell, D. and Kuensting, L.L., 2021. Advancing Emergency Nurse Practitioner Training Using
Virtual Nursing Centers. In Implementing Augmented Reality Into Immersive Virtual
Learning Environments (pp. 151-162). IGI Global.
Torrens and et.al., 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, p.103443.
Welton, J.M. and Harper, E.M., 2016. Measuring nursing care value. Nursing.
Whitehead and et.al., 2022. Factors influencing the development and implementation of nurse
practitioner candidacy programs: A scoping review. International journal of nursing
studies, 125, p.104133.
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