Using an FNP Degree to Advance Nursing Leadership

By Julia Quinn-Szcesuil

Nurses pursuing a nurse practitioner (NP) degree often intend to improve patient care while gaining a broad nursing industry background. While building nursing proficiency, nurses explore challenging issues using critical thinking skills that have been sharpened with the challenges of the advanced degree.

Prospective nurse practitioners can choose several advanced degree paths, including the family nurse practitioner (FNP) degree. This popular option allows nurses to work with all ages and gain a lifespan approach to patient care. But the FNP degree, like most NP paths, also offers skills and knowledge that open up leadership roles in advocacy and at the bedside.

The FNP background opens the potential for excellent career growth in areas from healthcare policy to healthcare finance or academia.

“Traditionally, when family nurse practitioners enter the healthcare delivery system as advanced practice registered nurses, they seek initial employment opportunities to acclimate further and develop to their new role,” says Brian Higgerson, DNSc, RN, FNP-BC, CNE, a clinical associate professor in the College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines at the University of North Dakota. However, as they advance in their careers, FNPs have perspectives and experiences that inform their work beyond patient care. “Nurse practitioners can be an unwavering voice at the decision-making table,” he says. “The opportunities for nurse practitioner leaders are vast and limitless.”

As nurses gain additional on-the-job competence, they can explore different careeradvancing roles. “As nurse practitioners become more confident and experienced as direct patient care providers, they may explore other options to impact and improve healthcare outcomes within the context of a leadership role,” Higgerson says. “Nurse practitioners play an essential role as healthcare agents for change and advocates for both our patients and our profession.”

Gaining Autonomy

Carolina Jones, ARPN, FNP-C, and a certified nurse in obesity medicine, owns Vital Direct Primary Care, an NP-owned direct primary care clinic. Jones, a Colombian American, says the FNP path focuses on helping nurses gain the knowledge to become autonomous practitioners. “It changes a person,” she says. “Instead of following orders within guidance and protocols, you create them and make those decisions yourself. You don’t necessarily have to consult anybody, and that’s a big change.”

The FNP curriculum, which has courses in leadership roles, lets nurses pursue studies that will apply broadly. For example, the skills are useful and essential when a nurse advances as a leader to advocate for the wider nursing industry or if they choose to drive changes within their working environment as a bedside nurse.

The FNP, says Jones, lets nurses explore opportunities that arise from particular challenges. Frustrated by working within the traditional insurance-guided model of care, Jones wanted to offer more to her patients and says she launched Vital Direct because of her FNP background. “I would never have had the audacity to do something like that, on my own, without that FNP degree,” she says. “It empowered me to go out there and be the change.”

As more FNPs assume leadership roles, Higgerson says it causes a positive shift in the public perception of all nurse practitioners. “Throughout the years, I’ve watched the evolution of the growth and employment opportunities for FNPs as publicly we became more recognized and respected,” he says. “In my career, I worked in various healthcare settings, and through my experiences, I further refined my leadership skills from my days as an ICU nurse. I became more proficient in interprofessional communication, mentoring, cultural competence, and emotional intelligence. In addition, in a more autonomous role as an FNP, I developed a better appreciation for available community resources for my patients and the importance of patient education.”

A Nurse Advocate in Any Role

The leadership roles available to nurses are varied, cross industries, and appeal to many professional and personal interests. “Within healthcare organizations systems, nurse practitioners can assume clinical leadership roles, such as nurse practitioner care coordinators, nurse executives, directors of clinical operations, and may even aspire to be a chief executive officer,” Higgerson says.

Nurses can also use their influence to impact outside healthcare delivery organizations. Frequently, nurses find that one leadership position—for example, as a board member of a professional organization or as a conference presenter—will open doors to other opportunities they didn’t know about. For example, they may pursue work in academic institutions, state boards of nursing, health insurance organizations, research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, professional nursing organizations, and state or federal legislative bodies.

As more nurses pursue diverse leadership responsibilities, they will directly and meaningfully impact communities. “Real change through advocacy requires a dedication and passion for the best possible outcomes,” says Higgerson, “both patient and organizational.”