NU7018 Advancing the Professional Role – ANP/AMP (10 ECTS)

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this module the student should be able to:

MLO-01	Examine the concept and process of professionalisation and the influence of role identity, boundaries and relationships between and within healthcare professions.
MLO-02	Analyse the professional development of Nurse/Midwife prescribing.
MLO-03	Examine the factors that influence professional role development from a political, organisational, historical and sociological perspective.
MLO-04	Review and discuss health care policy documents and their influence on nursing/midwifery.
MLO-05	Appraise the strategies that enhance/develop the communication skills necessary to collaborative interdisciplinary practice.
MLO-06	Design and plan collaborative practice agreements and review their relevance to nurse prescribing.

Methods of Teaching and Student Learning

Small group teaching, seminar, class debate, group work and online guidance/content, supervised clinical practice.

Module Learning Aims & Rationale

Nursing and midwifery prescribers require an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the professional role and how political, organisational and professional factors have influenced professionalism in nursing and nurse prescribing.  The aim of this module is to facilitate students to debate their professional roles, the factors that influence the advancement and conduct of such roles and how developments in professionalism in nursing impacts on practice. 

Module Content

• Concept and process of professionalization in health care professions
• Professional identity, boundaries and changing relationships between and within health care professions.
• Advanced nursing and midwifery practice and specialist roles
• The core domains of advanced nursing/midwifery practice and professionalism
• Professional Values and Conduct
• Clinical-Decision Making
• Knowledge and Cognitive Competences
• Communication and Interpersonal Competences
• Management and Team Competences
• Leadership and Professional Scholarship Competences
• Current influences on the professional role in nursing/midwifery and nurse/midwife prescribing, for example, government health and health care policy (e.g. Governance and Quality in Health Care), organisational structures, industrial relations and social change
• Scope and levels of professional practice and clinical decision making for nurse/midwife  prescribing
• Collaborative practice agreement for Nurse/Midwife Prescribing
• Clinical audit
• Interpersonal communication skills and strategies for facilitating and supporting interdisciplinary and collaborative practice

• Conflict resolution, Assertiveness, Negotiation skills
• Stress management
• Self management

Recommended Reading – more detailed lists will be provided by module lecturer

• An Bord Altranais (2007) Collaborative Practice Agreement for Nurses and Midwives with Prescriptive Authority (second edition). Dublin, An Bord Altranais.
  
• An Bord Altranais (2007) Requirements and Standards for Education Programmes for Nurses and Midwives with Prescriptive Authority. Dublin, An Bord Altranais.
  
• An Bord Altranais (2010) Practice Standards and Guidelines for Nurses and Midwives with Prescriptive Authority. Dublin, An Bord Altranais.
  
• Adams, D. & Miller B. (2001) Professionalism in Nursing: Behaviours of nurse practitioners. Journal of Professional Nursing, 17, 203-210.
  
• Brady A.M. (2010) Leadership & Management in the Irish Health Service, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
• Comi McCloskey, J. & McCain B.E. (2007) Satisfaction, Commitment and Professionalism of Newly Employed Nurses. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 19(1): 20-24.
  
• Coombs, M.A. (2004) Power and conflict between doctors and nurses: breaking through the inner circle in clinical practice, London: Routledge.
  
• Drennan J., Naughton C., Allen D., et al (2009) National Independent Evaluation of the Nurse and Midwife Prescribing Initiative. Dublin, University College Dublin.
  
• Dutcliffe, J.R., Wieck, K.L., Braithwaite, D.G., & Braithwaite, J.M. (2007) Salvation or damnation: deconstructing nursing’s aspirations to professional status. Journal of Nursing Management, 16(5): 499-507.
  
• Gordon, S. (2005) Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media, Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  
• Hart, C. (2004) Nurses and Politics: the impact of power and practice. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
  
• Hyde, A., Lohan M. and McDonnell, O. (2004) Sociology for Health Professionals in Ireland. Dublin: IPA Press. 
  
• McCabe C. (2010) Communication and Conflict Resolution. In Brady A.M (Ed).  Leadership & Management in the Irish Health Service 169 - 184, Dublin, Gill and Macmillan.
  
• Masters, K. (2008) Role development in professional nursing practice, London: Jones and Bartlett.
  
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (2017) Advanced Practice (Nursing) Standards and Requirements. Dublin, Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.
  
• Woodward V.A. & Webb, C. (2005) Nurse consultants: their characteristics and achievements. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 14(7): 845-854.