Practice Issues for the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

From The Critics

Reviewer: Theresa P. Yeo, MSN, MPH, CRNP(Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing)
Description: This book describes the current state of ACNP practice including expanded practice settings, research documenting ACNP effectiveness, reimbursement structures for services, and negotiating skills required for developing collaborative practice opportunities.
Purpose: This book provides an overview of the ACNP scope of practice and resource information that is essential to acute care practice. In achieving their stated objectives, the editors have made a worthy contribution to the ACNP literature.
Audience: The intended audience is the practicing ACNP, the ACNP student, and those seeking information regarding the role of the ACNP. It serves as an excellent resource document for nurse practitioner educators in schools of nursing and in the realm of continuing education. The editors bring together considerable experience and expertise with the practice of ACNP in developing the content.
Features: This book clarifies the role of the ACNP as one who provides healthcare across the continuum of illness to patients who are acutely and critically ill. ACNPs are often dedicated to specialty areas, coordinating comprehensive care to a subset of acutely ill patients. The collaborative role of the ACNP is emphasized, in contrast to the independent role often sought by primary care nurse practitioners. Contributing authors guide the reader through the varied clinical practice settings in which ACNPs function, providing examples of several innovative ACNP practice models. There is a thought-provoking discussion on " economic credentialing," or the practice of granting clinical and institutional privileges based on revenues generated. While traditionally a strategy aimed at physician providers, nurse practitioners are increasingly being judged by a similar standard making it imperative that ACNPs document their individual efficacy and contributions to the organization. The chapter on negotiating skills is particularly well done, with the development of several worksheets: "Personal Assessment," "Marketplace Characteristics," and "Practice Characteristics" that can be used to prepare negotiating strategies. Chapter 4 would be strengthened by further elaboration of the ANA's (1995) Standards of Clinical Practice and Scope of Practice for the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, perhaps including the document as an appendix. Duplication of historical background and overlap of information, particularly between chapters 2 and 8, could be avoided by careful editing. There is a discrepancy between the number of ACNP graduate level educational programs, listed as 70 in Chapter 1and 50 in Chapter 2.
Assessment: This book challenges the reader to envision the use of ACNPs in non-traditional practice settings where the basic tenets of advanced practice nursing, expert clinical practice, nursing research, and responsibility for patient/family/staff education can be combined. The editors have offered numerous hypotheses for future research documenting outcomes of ACNP practice. This book complements Daly's The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Springer, 1997), which focuses on the fundamental elements of ACNP education and guidelines for acute care practice. This book should be considered required reading for all advanced practice nurses.

Theresa Pluth Yeo

This book describes the current state of ACNP practice including expanded practice settings, research documenting ACNP effectiveness, reimbursement structures for services, and negotiating skills required for developing collaborative practice opportunities. This book provides an overview of the ACNP scope of practice and resource information that is essential to acute care practice. In achieving their stated objectives, the editors have made a worthy contribution to the ACNP literature. The intended audience is the practicing ACNP, the ACNP student, and those seeking information regarding the role of the ACNP. It serves as an excellent resource document for nurse practitioner educators in schools of nursing and in the realm of continuing education. The editors bring together considerable experience and expertise with the practice of ACNP in developing the content. This book clarifies the role of the ACNP as one who provides healthcare across the continuum of illness to patients who are acutely and critically ill. ACNPs are often dedicated to specialty areas, coordinating comprehensive care to a subset of acutely ill patients. The collaborative role of the ACNP is emphasized, in contrast to the independent role often sought by primary care nurse practitioners. Contributing authors guide the reader through the varied clinical practice settings in which ACNPs function, providing examples of several innovative ACNP practice models. There is a thought-provoking discussion on "" economic credentialing,"" or the practice of granting clinical and institutional privileges based on revenues generated. While traditionally a strategy aimed at physician providers, nurse practitioners areincreasingly being judged by a similar standard making it imperative that ACNPs document their individual efficacy and contributions to the organization. The chapter on negotiating skills is particularly well done, with the development of several worksheets: ""Personal Assessment,"" ""Marketplace Characteristics,"" and ""Practice Characteristics"" that can be used to prepare negotiating strategies. Chapter 4 would be strengthened by further elaboration of the ANA's (1995) Standards of Clinical Practice and Scope of Practice for the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, perhaps including the document as an appendix. Duplication of historical background and overlap of information, particularly between chapters 2 and 8, could be avoided by careful editing. There is a discrepancy between the number of ACNP graduate level educational programs, listed as 70 in Chapter 1and 50 in Chapter 2. This book challenges the reader to envision the use of ACNPs in non-traditional practice settings where the basic tenets of advanced practice nursing, expert clinical practice, nursing research, and responsibility for patient/family/staff education can be combined. The editors have offered numerous hypotheses for future research documenting outcomes of ACNP practice. This book complements Daly's The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Springer, 1997), which focuses on the fundamental elements of ACNP education and guidelines for acute care practice. This book should be considered required reading for all advanced practice nurses.

4 Stars! from Doody