Discussion postAdvanced practice nursing

DQ 2 : How has your view of the role of the APRN changed prior to beginning the program?

A before-and-after that needs the before stated honestly, including what you had wrong. Then a revelation and something you would actually tell other people about the role.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 18, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

What changed, and what you believed before

State the prior view plainly, because a before-and-after with a vague before has nothing to measure. Common prior beliefs among registered nurses entering advanced practice are worth naming because they are so widely held: that the nurse practitioner role is essentially an experienced nurse with prescribing added; that autonomy is uniform across the country; that the four advanced practice roles differ mainly in setting; that the transition is mostly about knowledge rather than about carrying the diagnostic decision. Say which of those you held and what corrected it — a course reading, a clinical encounter, a conversation with a practitioner. The correction is more convincing than the conclusion, and a post that reports only that the role is broader than expected has skipped it. A prior belief specific enough to be wrong gives the rest of the post something to work against, and a vague one gives it nothing at all.

The biggest revelation should be one thing, chosen and defended rather than a list. Strong candidates: the extent to which scope is a legal artefact varying by state rather than a professional fact; the weight of the accountability shift from executing a plan to owning it; the amount of the role that is not clinical at all — billing, documentation for reimbursement, panel management, the business of the practice; or the persistence of role confusion among patients and colleagues. Then answer the last question as communication rather than reflection: what would you tell a patient, a family member or a colleague who asks what a nurse practitioner is? Have a sentence ready that does not begin with what the role is not, since defining a profession by contrast with medicine is the habit that keeps the confusion alive. Support it with a source, as the prompt requires, and prefer a professional body's own description over a general article.

Likely learning objectives

State a prior belief honestly, including where it was wrong.
Identify what specifically corrected it.
Select a single revelation and defend the choice.
Communicate the role without defining it by contrast.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Herzing NU 626 Unit 1 DQ 2 Discussion Prompt Now that you have a little experience in learning about the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), have you worked with or have you received care from an APRN, what has been your experience with this? How has your view of the role of the APRN changed prior to beginning the program? What has been your biggest revelation about the role of the APRN? What information would you like to share with others about the role of the APRN? In responses to other students, provide resources to refer patients, families, friends, and others to understand the role of the APRN as well as support or offer an alternate opinion to their information provided. Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format. Please review the rubric to ensure that your response meets the criteria.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. Herzing NU 626 Unit 1 DQ 2 One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01A stated prior view of the APRN role.
02What corrected it.
03One revelation, chosen and defended.
04A sentence you would use to explain the role to a layperson.
05A professional source describing the role.