Assignment Instructions
Compare two different advanced registered nurse roles with regard to ethical guidelines. Are there any differences in the ethical guidelines that govern these roles? What situations might require one role to respond differently, depending on the ethical guidelines?
Sample Answer
The two advanced roles of advanced registered nurses are Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) (Boehning & Punsalan, 2023). NPs have the authority to diagnose and treat diseases, prescribe medicine, and interpret diagnostic tests. The practice of the NPs is governed by associations such as the code of ethics by the American Nurses Association (ANA). ANA emphasizes the importance of the principles of care provision in adherence to the principles of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. NPs must adhere to the highest healthcare standards according to the Board of Nursing in their State as well as the Nurse Practice Act. Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) specialize in different areas of nursing practice such as critical care, oncology, and pediatrics. CNSs are in charge of providing direct patient care, consulting with other healthcare providers, and educating the patients and their families on the various health conditions (Boehning & Punsalan, 2023). The practice of the CNSs is governed by the American Nurse Association code of ethics and bodies such as the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS). NACNS emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, evidence-based practice, and patient-centered care in the delivery of healthcare services.
What situations might require one role to respond differently, depending on the ethical guidelines?
NPS and CNS will respond differently to various situations. They will have different care provisions during the end-of-life. During the end-of-life, NPs have the authority to prescribe medicine for managing pain and relieving the symptoms of the disease. This includes the medicine that fastens death in adherence to the ethical guidelines and laws of different States. On the other hand, CNSs are in charge of developing procedures and policies on end-of-life but they do not prescribe medication and make key decisions on the end-of-life of the patients (Connolly et al., 2021).
References
Boehning, A. P., & Punsalan, L. D. (2023). Advanced Practice Nurse Roles. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589698/
Connolly, M., Ryder, M., Frazer, K., Furlong, E., Escribano, T. P., Larkin, P., ... & McGuigan, E. (2021). Evaluating the specialist palliative care clinical nurse specialist role in an acute hospital setting: a mixed methods sequential explanatory study. BMC palliative care, 20, 1-9. https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-021-00834-y