Nurses are required to go to school for a minimum of two years, and take the NCLEX to become licensed nurses. In most states, nurses are required to take continuing education courses to renew their license. The science of nursing is important because nursing requires specific knowledge and skills to provide safe and adequate patient care. Nurses use critical thinking skills that are developed through evidence based research when caring for patients. Lindberg states in her article Evidence based Nursing: Advancing the Art and Science of Nursing Practice, “Evidence based nursing has been called a “problem solving approach to practice” (p.83, Melnyk, 2004) and is defined as the clinical decision making based on the best available scientific evidence, combined with clinical nursing expertise and considering patient preferences and available resources (p.1, 2004). Nurse should utilize evidence based research, and practice evidence based nursing. Nurses have a responsibility to develop competent skills and to continually increase their education so that patients will have more positive …show more content…
One pathway nurses prepared with a Master of Science Degree or Doctorate of Nursing practice can choose is nurse practitioner. After completing a two year Master’s program or Doctorate program, nurse practitioners have to take the ANCC Family Nurse Practitioner board certification examination to obtain a license to practice. Advanced practice nurses such as nurse practitioners expand their scope of practice, and also earn competitive salaries. The U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) reported “the annual mean pay for nurse practitioners was $97,990 in 2014.” Nurse practitioners can diagnosis patients, order diagnostic tests, manage care of chronic illnesses, perform physical assessments and prescribe medications for patients. Health care agencies utilize nurse practitioners as a cost effective way to provide high quality patient care. “State boards of nursing vary in the scope of practice they allow nurse