The Family Nurse Practitioner

The Family Nurse Practitioner

Jina L. Williams

Grand Canyon university: NUR-502

January 20, 2016

The Family Nurse Practitioner

        I have always known that I wanted to be a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). For me, there has been this need to move from the hospital bedside to primary care in order to affect the patient in a different way. It’s giving that patient a foundation along with education. It’s teaching them that self-care is the best healthcare and giving them some accountability towards their health, because some people don’t have the proper tools. This paper will introduce you to an FNP and give insight to her education, career path, goals and advice to me on moving forward.

        I worked with an ED nurse named Danielle Lynn. I was an ED tech at the time and in nursing school. We went on two medical missions together and frequently spoke about our goals in healthcare. She was in her final year as an FNP student and has since graduated. Ms. Lynn has been open and informative in guiding me throughout my nursing career… here is her story.

Overview of Career

        Danielle started her career at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. She graduated in 2005 with her Bachelors in Nursing. Danielle immediately, upon graduation, received an offer from Scottsdale Healthcare (now HonorHealth) in their Emergency Department as a Registered Nurse. About a year into her career she began working in the Trauma bays. It was at this point in her career that she came face-to-face with what’s wrong with the healthcare system. She stated that she despised treating people and just sending them back on the street. There were those patients that needed more guidance and assistance that couldn’t be offered in that setting. She wanted to play a more active role in the education of others to thwart the increasing numbers of people being seen in the ED. There was an echo throughout the interview, “I want to treat the patient before they are sick” (D. Lynn, personal communication, January 10, 2016). One of the nurses in the department headed Medical Missions to Haiti and invited Danielle on her first trip in 2008. She fell in love with treating underserved communities and vowed when she returned to the States that she would start Graduate school to become an FNP.

Graduate Education

        In early 2009, Danielle started her Masters Education at the University of Phoenix (UOP). It was at this time that she enrolled in their FNP program. She wanted to start this program to move forward with her goals to assist those in underserved communities and become the leading Practitioner for Medical Missions to Haiti. It was her goal at the time, to eventually move to Haiti for a couple years to assist with medical guidance for a clinic they were building in a small township. She chose UOP because a friend of hers had completed the program and had nothing but good things to stay about it. When asked how she felt about the program there were no negative words. The one thing that she wanted to make clear was you get out of it what you put into it. I got the impression, that for her, it was a means to an end. She got what she needed from the institution to propel her forward in her career.