The professional nurse practices in both structured and unstructured settings. The advanced practice nurse is prepared at the graduate level. This preparation includes both the theoretical and conceptual background and the skills of leadership, research and critical-thinking, to improve nursing practice and health care in both traditional and contemporary settings. Critical thinking is an intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information. This information is gathered from or generated by observation, assessment, experience, reading, reflection, critiquing, reasoning and communication as guide to belief or action.
Communication is a basic element of human interaction.
It is a complex and multifaceted process that involves behaviors and relationships. In both verbal and nonverbal form, it is an ongoing dynamic series of events that result in the transmission of information or feelings between two or more persons. The goal of therapeutic nursing interventions is to assist the client in achieving optimal health as culturally, individually, and situationally defined.