Feedback on Contemporary Challenges Facing Family Nurse Practitioners

[finkydj]

Hi,

I'm new to this and I need some help; I'm applying to graduate school to be a family nurse practitioner and I've been asked to write about contemporary problems facing family nurse practitioners and discuss a potential solution to the problem. I don't want my "homework" to be done for me, I just need help brainstorming...on this or other topics

During a volunteering stint with some FNPs, one problem that they had was getting HIV patients to adhere to their treatment regimens for their own sakes, I decided to write on it...

Here's what I have so far...(which I don't think is too great):

An issue that has been plaguing family practice advance practice nurses is their HIV positive clients' non-compliance or failure to adhere to their treatment regimens despite the fact that they have knowledge of the consequences of their actions. Increasing numbers of HIV positive clients are failing to comply with their treatment regimen for many different reasons including side effects and the fact that the clients have to take many different pills many different times a day (high pill burden). Alarms on medication bottles are a nuisance and are ignored by the patients. With the cooperation of the pharmaceutical companies the pill burden has and continues to decease; for example, one antiretroviral medication, Atripla®, is an anti-retroviral drug taken once a day at bedtime. However, given these facts, some patients still refuse to take their medications and it is becoming increasingly difficult of health care providers to manage these clients given this fact. A few ways that advance practice nurses can ensure that these clients continue to take their medications may include directly observing the clients take their medications, collaborating with pharmacies to conduct weekly pill counts, instituting reward systems for clients (behavior modification) who adhere to their treatment plans, and working with social workers who will go to appointments with clients and help reinforce patient education about the consequences of failure to adhere to the treatment regimen.

Your ideas and suggestions will be greatly appreciated...

[zenman]

You're having to do this as part of the application process? I'd run!

[finkydj]

You're having to do this as part of the application process? I'd run!

Yeah Zenman, unfortunately, it's the requirement of a number of different MSN programs and the personal statements are duplicates of each other, word, for word...like a copy and paste...

[TreehuggerRN]

The school I'm going to didn't require this. When I read the title of this thread my initial thought was they were looking for something political.

What you have sounds good, though.

I hope you're not goint through an expensive private university, not that it's my business but it's expensive enough going to a state school.

[zenman]

Yeah Zenman, unfortunately, it's the requirement of a number of different MSN programs and the personal statements are duplicates of each other, word, for word...like a copy and paste...

Yes, I've had to do personal statements but that's about me, not about other issues....

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Yes, I've done a personal statement too but nothing like this - I'd save it and recycle it in a class....lol

[zahryia, LPN]

I would think contemporary issues would be more broad and more geared towards NPs. Your example is very specific and I would imagine would be an issues for PCPs as well.

Ideas off the top of my head would be reimbursement rates, physician agreements, prescription authority, etc.

I don't know, but I agree with Trauma, save your adherence topic for a paper. If you decide to stick with this topic, I would address if we really know the reasons for non-adherence. Is it side effects, denial, co-morbidities, mental health issues? Then go into how the FNPs can address those issues.

BTW, what school is this?

[finkydj]

@Zahyria: well the school is UNC Chapel Hill and Georgia Southern has the same personal statement requirements "reimbursement rates, physician agreements, prescription authority" sound good but coming up with a "solution" to those problems are the issue but I believe that I will take your suggestion and go into how the FNPs can address the side effects, denial, co-morbidities, mental health issues...

@ zenman and Traumarus: there is also a section of this same personal statement where I have to address my issues, such as clinical and academic strengths and weaknesses, my goals for becoming an FNP and such...

oh and i'm definitely saving and holding on to all these personal statements...Grad school is expensive enough...