Core competencies paper | Nursing homework help
Nurse practitioners (NPs), who provide direct care, specialize in treating and diagnosing patients. They are able to conduct physical examinations, administer laboratory tests and diagnose illness. Furthermore, NPs should have excellent communication skills to be able to interact effectively with patients and work with other healthcare professionals as needed.
Instead, nurse administrators (NAs) provide indirect care and focus on policies and procedures. They also manage various nursing programs in a particular health system. These core skills include the ability to analyze organizational needs and develop patient-centered initiatives. They must also be proficient in budgeting/financial administration to ensure that resources are efficiently allocated and services delivered on time. For inter-disciplinary collaborations and promoting organizational change, it is important to have strong interpersonal skills.
Ultimately, although both roles require nurses to possess similar foundational knowledge base – such as pharmacology or medical terminology – the core competencies of each differ significantly depending on the scope of practice needed for successful job performance.