Running head: GOAL OF BECOMING AN APN Goal of becoming an APN School of Nursing, Wright State University

Working as a registered nurse for one and half years with patients with diverse needs provided me with a good foundation for understanding of the concepts, health and wellness. However, I was faced with certain challenges in my nursing practice that I am going to address as I further in my nursing career. The major factors that influenced my goal of becoming an APN are indefinite autonomy, limited ability to determine underlying causes for some medical symptoms, and non-compliance of patients. As a floor nurse, I was able to conduct assessments on patients and recognize the problem but had limited autonomy to make decisions and prescribe appropriate treatment. In long-term care facilities, physicians are not accessible at all times and it was almost impossible to get a physicians attention after the office hours. In that case, we have to follow the chain of command and contact the attending physician or medical director or supervisor. At times, I had to wait for days to receive a call back from a physician. This process often resulted in delayed treatment. I desired more autonomy than I had as an RN and I wanted to have more of an impact on patients clinical outcome. I hope that by obtaining APN certification and prescriptive authority, I will help fill the void in the primary care, improve continuity of care, and practice nursing in a broader scope. On multiple occasions I have corrected physicians and nurse practitioners in making judgments about patient condition and in prescribing appropriate treatment. In long-term care facilities physician and nurses communicate through phone system and it was my responsibility to give my assessment report and my opinion on patients condition so that the physicians can make appropriate decision. I also felt like I could maybe manage the

GOAL OF BECONG AN APN

patients just as well, as the physician on-duty. I have been appreciated for my job several times and now I feel like I am ready to move on and start my career as an APN. In my nursing practice, I have observed patients getting admitted with a medical diagnosis, and it was not until much later that the underlying psychiatric causes behind the medical symptoms were discovered. Because of this reason, it was often difficult to estimate the patient comprehension of the undergoing treatment and thus resulted in noncompliance. The later was much more pronounced in elderly population with obvious psychiatric disorders, mostly due to forgetfulness and limited family support. This captured my desire to study in-depth about the psychiatric pathology, treatment options, mental health, and counseling not only to improve patient compliance but also to gain personal benefit from knowing the subject. At this point in my life, I am physically and mentally prepared to take the challenges as I study the detailed pathology, psychopharmacology, and various treatment options for psychiatric illnesses and learn the leadership, critical thinking, and decision making skills at an advanced level. Praveen K. Bodakunta 317-748-8824 Praveen.bodakunta@gmail.com