Critical Analysis of the Role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Running head: THE ROLE OF ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER
Critical analysis of the role of the advanced nurse practitioner
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
THE ROLE OF ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER
Introduction:
The roles and responsibilities of a nursing professional is diverse and it encompasses
an array of activities ranging from assessing the care needs of the patents to advocating for
their best interests. Carney (2016)have described the nurses to be only health care
professionals that have the opportunity and accountability to develop strong therapeutic
alliances with the patients and their family members as well. Hence, the patients also spend
the most of their time with the nurses developing a comfort level that allows them to open up
to the nurses regarding their issues and grievances that they are suffering from. Hence, the
nurses have a fundamental role in the health care scenario and they are central to the delivery
of optimal patient centred care to the patient population.
However, the roles and responsibilities a nurse often overlaps and that is why there
are various specific designation guiding the nurses through better understanding of the exact
roles and responsibilities they are to be addressing while in practice (McDonnell et al., 2015).
The advanced nurse practitioner is a job role that has evolved in the recent years
encompassing more specific, detailed and critical nursing responsibilities and patient care
requirements. This essay will attempt to explore the roles and responsibilities of an advanced
nurse practitioner (ANP) and critically analyse the literature, ultimately applying the data
gathered to explore the effectiveness of the role of an ANP in our hospital setting.
Discussion:
Advanced nurse practitioner, the origin of the designation and the description of the roles:

2
THE ROLE OF ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER
Advanced nurse practitioner is a very new and recently developed designation in the
nursing field in comparison to its other counterparts. It has been developed in the wake of the
different issues the nursing workforce had been facing as well as the health care industry. As
discussed by Bryant‐Lukosius et al. (2016), the health care scenario has been changing
rapidly in since the last few decades and as a result the impact of the changes has led to
development of more specialized designation to handle the more critical aspects of patient
care. on a more elaborative note, the aging population, deteriorating health habits and
lifestyle of the individuals, growing prevalence of the long term health adversities, the rising
frequency of non-communicable diseases, complicating care needs, and lastly and the most
importantly, the ever-increasing demand for nursing staff, had been a few notable challenges
that has led to the rise of the specialist nurse roles. The advanced nurse practitioner is one
such designation and the definition of the ANP is very complex due to the overlapping and
complexly diverse job roles and responsibilities. In argument, many authors have mentioned
that internationally there are multiple variants of the role of ANP and the exact characteristics
of the role often differs based on the different national guidelines, health care framework and
the demands experienced in the nation. Tracing back the origin of the role of the ANP, the
designation first arose in the healthcare industry of USA in the late 1960s in order to address
the staff shortage in the USA in that period and address the more complicated care needs of
the patients. However, there is also considerable argument stating the emerging of the role of
the ANP had been to address the issue of health inequalities in ethnic minorities (Iglehart,
2013).
However, the role of an ANP has emerged drastically from that, and even though
different nations have different practice guidelines for ANPs, they are undoubtedly have
become an integral part of the nursing workforce. Considering the roles and responsibilities
of an advanced nurse practitioner is focused mainly on patient education, disease

3
THE ROLE OF ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONER
management, treatment, illness prevention, and health promotion. In the context of advanced
nurse practitioner in the Australian health care context, the NMBA or the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia has defined the role of the ANP to be associated with a nursing
practice level that uses experience, comprehensive expertise, and knowledge in proving care
(O'keeffe, Corry & Moser, 2015).
The roles of an advanced nurse practitioner is diverse and it mainly encompasses
critical and complicated aspects associated patient care involving clinical governance and
critical judgments. They are the highest division in the nursing workforce which entails that
they have to be associated with taking most clinical decisions that can affect the patient care
directly. As discussed in the article by Jennings et al. (2015), the role of an advanced nurse
practitioner often overlaps with the role of a doctor, in the decision making authorities and
scope of practice. Exploring the roles further, many Jenkins, Docherty and Cain (2018) have
argued that the skillset that an advanced nurse practitioner has to be reflecting is associated
with is considered to be that of doctors. As a result, in certain cases of emergencies, the
advanced nurse practitioner can also take a number of clinical decisions which generally is
taken by doctors.
The roles and responsibilities of the advanced nurse practice includes undertaking an
array of comprehensive or sophisticated assessments involving both physical and mental
health assessments for the patients that are suffering from complex health care needs. As
discussed by the authors, the advanced nurse practitioners are required to carry out a through
interpretation of the results of the different array of assessments and investigations that have
been carried out for the patient, therefore, they have a strong role in carrying out diagnosis of
the patient. Along with that, Andregård and Jangland (2015)have also mentioned that the role
of an Advanced Nurse Practitioner also expands to providing therapies such as the cognitive
behavioural therapy and other such psychotherapies to the patients with complex mental