Health Care: Ambulatory Care Nursing
Select an advanced professional or advanced practice nursing specialty. How has past and
current regulation/legislation affected the role and scope of this nursing role? What, if any,
discussions are currently underway relative to the scope and role of this specialty? What
resources are available to assist nurses in advocating for these roles?
Select a professional or specialty nursing association. What impact has this organization had on
health care legislation in the past 2 years?
Health Care: Ambulatory Care Nursing
This case focuses on ambulatory nursing, which significantly differs from other nursing
specialties at the level of the scope of practice. Patient care demands change with time and
adjustment in various practices in ambulatory nursing are vital. In most cases, the changes
require allocation of more roles to nurses. As such, the scope of ambulatory nursing has
expanded to improve patient care.
Both past and current regulations have affected ambulatory nursing from different
perspectives. As Stokowski (2011) noted, the current views on ambulatory nursing are different
from what used to be the understanding ten years ago. The earlier regulation allowed only a
narrow scope for ambulatory nursing. Policy makers have made changes in the scope of the field
to suit the current patient care requirements. Differences in health care setting have necessitated
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most of the changes. For instance, there are differences in the occurrence of chronic diseases,
lengths of hospitalization, as well as the complexity of procedures performed on patients
(Stokowski, 2011). With the new regulations, nurses can attend patients from other more
different settings. They can attend patients from offices, community health facilities, homes,
schools, and gastrointestinal laboratories among others (Stokowski, 2011).
There are discussions on ambulatory nursing that aim at defining the practice, and
describing it in a comprehensive manner. In addition, there are discussions on relating the
specialty to general practice as well as those on framework expansion. Stakeholders also address
the standards of performance expected from the ambulatory nursing specialists.
To advocate for their roles, nurses use general practice as well as specialty associations. For
instance, the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nurses (AAACN) offers a platform on
which nurses in the ambulatory field can discuss and express their opinions. Within the last two
years, the AAACN has expressed that ambulatory nurses have a rich background in nursing and
that they employ their knowledge to offer quality ambulatory services. In so doing, the
association backs nurses in their practice.
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Reference
Stokowski, L. A. (2011, September 26). Ambulatory Care Nursing: A Specialty.