Advanced nursing education students through their Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program should specialize in different areas as future nurse practitioners with the aim of dealing with a specific population or healthcare need. These specialties can include being a family nurse practitioner (FNP), a psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) and geriatric nurse practitioner among others. specialization allows nurses to fulfill their career objectives and attain more knowledge and skills to meet the increasingly diverse patient care needs aside from becoming experts in those areas. As such, after a consideration of various specialty options for specialty, including my analysis of the preferred specialty and a second option, I present my findings and the justification of these choices. I have also examined a professional organization linked to my selected and preferred specialty and the requirements that one needs to meet to become a member. This section of the plan presents these findings.
My selected and preferred specialty is psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). I have selected this specialty because of the increasing need for mental health care services as mental health becomes an integral part of holistic care provision. Further, my preference for this specialty arises also from the desire to assist others attain better mental health and deal with comorbidities as well as risk factors for mental health conditions. PMHNPs play a critical part in enhancing mental health services and access, particularly now when many individuals are dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the opioid epidemic. PMHNPs work in different areas that comprise of general health facilities as well as specialty care settings. Through these settings, the offer care to different populations; right from the elderly to adults and adolescents with mental health issues. They can also work in law enforcement areas and the criminal justice system (Oleck, 2021). Becoming a PMHNP will enable me to bridge the current gap in care provision between demand and availability. Many people do not access health services for mental health because of lack of resources and accessibility (Tierney, 2020). I will use my professional experience and background to change misconception and demonstrate the importance of mental health to all who require it.
The second specialty is being an informatics nurse who integrates science and information and analytical sciences with the aim of identifying, defining, managing and communicating patient health information. Informatics nurses help in designing and implementation of health information technologies like patient portals, electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical decision support to health their entities meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Interoperability Programs (Meaningful Use) to enhance efficiency, quality of care, and patient safety. Informatics is becoming a core component of effective care delivery for practitioners and organizations as it allows them to understand patient better through effective data documentation.
According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioner (AANP) (2022), PMHNPs assess, diagnose, and treat mental health needs of patients. The specialty enables patients to access therapeutic interventions and medications to help deal with mental disorders and substance use issues. The justification for this specialty is the need to help others attain optimal mental health and increase access to these critical services. The current mental health situation requires providers to develop better approaches and incorporate patient needs as a way of ensuring that they have holistic care. Today, many individuals lack information on the type of mental health services that they can get from providers (Pearson, 2018). Therefore, my desire is to help bridge this gap, offer community awareness about the negative effects of ignoring the condition and how individuals can access resources. Through the specialty, I will offer better services and enhance adherence to medications and therapeutic interventions to attain better outcomes.
PMHNPs are professionals who need to be members of professional associations to help them grow their career and network with others on the specialty. Consequently, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) (2022) is a professional organization whose membership constitute psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. The primary aim of this professional organization is to promote and empower psychiatric mental health NPs to attain career goals and professional developme
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