Advanced Nursing vs. Specialty Nursing Practice

Although advanced practice nursing and specialty practice are often used interchangeably within the nursing profession, there explicit differences between these two types of practice. Drawing upon the differing conclusions from peer-reviewed journals, we compare and construct the two levels of practice based on the dimensions of the knowledge base, scope of practice, credentialing, and regulation.

Ideally, specialty nursing practice involves focusing on nursing practice in a specific area within the field of professional nursing. According to Finnell, Thomas, and Nehring (2015), the scope of practice, standards of professional practice, knowledge base, and accompanying credentials are unique in each nursing specialty. Associated nursing specialty organization defines the specifically required knowledge base, and seeks publication within the scope of practice, and standards to set aside and identify the unique practice.  Consequently, Finnell et al. noted that the task of defining the scope and standards of specialty nursing practice can be challenging for the nurse experts.

On the other hand, advanced practice nursing is defined as a career path for registered nurses, who are committed towards continuing professional development and clinical supervision, with an aim of becoming expert practitioners later in their career. Regardless of the type, Advanced practice nurse are expected to complete an accredited education program design to help them gain the necessary knowledge base, gain licensure, registration, certification, and credentialing (Bryant-Lukosius, Valaitis, & Martin-Misener, 2017). The APN is also required to have an expert knowledge base, complex decision-making skills, and clinical competencies to help them meet the requirements of the expanded scope of practice. Based on the country-specific regulations, the scope of practice varies with title protection to prescribe drugs, treatment, refer patients to other medical professionals, and admit patients for inpatient care delivery.

References

Bryant-Lukosius, D., Valaitis, R., Martin-Misener, R., Donald, F., Pena, L. M., & Brousseau, L. (2017). Advanced practice nursing: A strategy for achieving universal health coverage and universal access to health. Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 25, 1-11.

Finnell, D. S., Thomas, E. L., Nehring, W. M., McLoughlin, K., & Bickford, C. J. (2015). Best Practices for Developing Specialty Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 20, (2), 1-11.