Scholarship of Nursing.

• Demonstrates Competency: This shows the NP can synthesize and apply current evidence to their specific patient population, moving beyond simply following protocols to actively evaluating and adapting them.

2. Engage in scholarship to advance health:

• Example: The NP notices a high rate of uncontrolled HbA1c levels among their rural diabetes patients. They design a quality improvement project to implement a telehealth-based diabetes education and support program. They collect data on HbA1c levels before and after the intervention to assess its effectiveness. They might also explore contributing factors like access to healthy food, transportation barriers, or health literacy.
• Demonstrates Competency: This demonstrates the NP's commitment to generating new knowledge and improving patient outcomes through systematic inquiry. It shows they are not just consumers of research but active contributors to it.

3. Discern appropriate applications of quality improvement, research, and evaluation methodologies:

• Example: In designing their telehealth program evaluation, the NP carefully considers different methodologies. They decide a pre-post design is most feasible given their resources but acknowledge its limitations. They use validated instruments to measure diabetes knowledge and self-care behaviors. They consult with a statistician to ensure appropriate data analysis. They understand the difference between quality improvement (focused on local improvement) and research (generalizable knowledge).
• Demonstrates Competency: This highlights the NP's ability to select and apply the most appropriate methodology for a given project, demonstrating their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.

4. Collaborate to advance one’s scholarship:

• Example: The NP collaborates with other healthcare providers in the rural clinic (physicians, nurses, dieticians, community health workers) to develop and implement the telehealth program. They also partner with a local community organization to recruit participants and provide technology support. They might also seek mentorship from a senior researcher at a nearby university.
• Demonstrates Competency: This shows the NP's ability to work effectively in interprofessional teams and build partnerships to enhance their scholarly work. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration in advancing health.

5. Disseminate one’s scholarship to diverse audiences using a variety of approaches or modalities:

• Example: After evaluating the telehealth program, the NP shares their findings in multiple ways. They present their results at a local diabetes support group, create a poster for a regional nursing conference, and write a brief summary for the clinic newsletter. They might even consider submitting a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. They tailor their communication style to each audience, using lay language for the community group and more technical language for the conference and journal.
• Demonstrates Competency: This emphasizes the NP's ability to communicate their scholarly work effectively to different audiences, ensuring that their findings reach those who can benefit from them.

6. Advocate within the interprofessional team and with other stakeholders for the contributions of nursing scholarship:

• Example: When discussing the clinic's diabetes management protocols, the NP advocates for incorporating the evidence from their telehealth program evaluation. They explain how the program improved patient outcomes and argue for its wider implementation. They might also present their findings to the clinic's leadership team, emphasizing the value of nursing-led quality improvement initiatives. They might also advocate for policies that address social determinants of health impacting their diabetes patients.
• Demonstrates Competency: This showcases the NP's role as a leader and advocate, using their scholarly work to influence practice and policy, ultimately improving patient care. It demonstrates they can effectively communicate the value of nursing scholarship to others.

Let's explore how a master's-prepared nurse practitioner (NP) can demonstrate these competencies, using examples from a potential area of focus: Improving diabetes management in a rural community.

1. Apply and critically evaluate advanced knowledge in a defined area of nursing practice:

• Example: The NP reviews the latest research on diabetes management, including guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and evidence-based practices for culturally sensitive care. They critically evaluate the strength of the evidence, considering study design, sample size, and applicability to their rural population. They analyze existing protocols in their clinic, identifying areas where current practices deviate from best practice and could be improved.