Advanced Practice Nurse

The role of the advanced practice nurse has evolved substantially since the early 1990s. Research papers on the rolls of the APN can reveal the complex relationship that nurses in this roll have with physicians and how their services interrelate. Have the writers at Paper Masters explicate the various duties of an APN in a custom written research paper today.

According to one research report, "Nurses were suddenly needed to fill the gaps, and expediency enabled nurses to do things legitimately: things, such as suturing and requesting X-rays that had been undertaken for years surreptitiously". As such, the role of the advanced practice nurse has evolved out of a clear need for healthcare facilities to provide efficient care to patients. Without these professionals, physicians would be unable to manage the growing number of patients seeking care in emergency departments.

What this information effectively suggests is that the advanced practice nurse can serve an important and integral role in delivering care in the healthcare setting. With this in mind, it is important to assess the efficacy of nursing professionals serving in this role. Mundinger (2005) in his comparison of patient outcomes for individuals provided care by both nurse practitioners and physicians found that "In an ambulatory care situation in which patients were randomly assigned to either nurse practitioners or physicians, and where nurse practitioners had the same authority, responsibilities, productivity and administrative requirements, and patient population as primary care physicians, patients' outcomes were comparable".

One research paper from Paper Masters compared the care provided by advanced practice nurses and physicians working with HIV patients. As reported, outcomes for patients given care by nurse practitioners were comparable to those of patients that provided care by physician HIV experts. Further, our writer found that the quality of care provided by nurse practitioners was better than that provided by physician non-HIV experts. Wilson concludes that the specific context in which nurse practitioners provide care enables them to more effectively meet the needs of patients.

Finally, a master's thesis on the role of the advanced practice nurse in providing care to neurosurgery patients revealed interesting results.

1. Under the specific care model examined in this research, nurse practitioners provided tandem care for patients undergoing neurosurgery.
2. The results of this investigation suggest that the use of nurse practitioners in this role "is beneficial to patients and their families because they receive comprehensive care that is patient oriented and holistic".
3. Hence, nurse practitioners are capable of providing quality care that can improve outcomes for the patient.

While there is ample quantitative data that suggests nurse practitioners can provide comparable care to patients in ambulatory and primary care settings, it is also important to consider how comparisons of care have been measured specifically in the emergency care setting. Even though there is a paucity of salient research, there is data which supports the efficacy of the nurse in this particular role.