Mary, a baccalaureate prepared registered nurse, has been practicing for fifteen years. Throughout her nursing career, she worked in pediatric, surgical, and emergency departments. She worked as a floor nurse, charge nurse, and was recently offered a position as a nursing supervisor. A stipulation for becoming a nursing supervisor is that Mary must attain a Master of Health Administration degree within 2 years of accepting the position. The offer prompted Mary to contemplate her career. She is interested in returning to college, but she realized that she does not want to pursue working in administration and away from patients. Mary decided to become an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN). Mary knows that working as an APN will allow her the opportunity to make a larger contribution to individuals, environment, health, and nursing. She researched graduate nursing programs and discovered that there are four roles of the APN. Mary must choose one role and apply to a program, but she is unsure about the different roles and their individual scopes of practice.

Discussion question:

How would you decide? Develop a pros and cons list to assist Mary in making her decision. Include each role of the APN on the list and be certain to provide appropriate rationales and citations.