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Assignment questions
NursingDiscussion postAdvanced practice nursing

NU 625 Unit 2 DQ 1: FNP philosophy and prescribing

Develop a personal philosophy and framework acknowledging professional and accrediting agency competencies for the family nurse practitioner role, identify the theorist or agency it rests on, then identify variations in APN prescriptive authority and compare your practice state with another, focused on client safety.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 13, 2026

01

Anchoring the philosophy, then testing it against two states

The prompt asks for a personal philosophy but immediately constrains it: the philosophy must acknowledge professional and accrediting agency competencies relating to the role and scope of practice of the family nurse practitioner. So it cannot be a general statement about caring. Ground it in a named framework — the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties core competencies, the AACN Essentials, or the American Association of Nurse Practitioners scope of practice statements are all defensible — and then say what those competencies commit you to in practice. The second sentence asks you to identify a nurse theorist or accrediting agency that provides the foundation, so name one and stay with it. A theorist route gives you a coherent view of the nurse-patient relationship; an agency route gives you competencies you can quote. Either works, but mixing several dilutes the philosophy into a list of things you admire.

The prescriptive authority half is the graded half and it needs specifics rather than the general observation that states differ. Prescriptive authority for advanced practice nurses varies along several dimensions at once: whether the state grants full practice authority or requires a collaborative or supervisory agreement with a physician, whether controlled substances in every schedule may be prescribed, whether a separate state controlled-substance registration is required alongside the federal DEA registration, and what continuing education or protocol filing conditions attach. Name your state, name a comparison state that differs meaningfully, and set them against each other on those dimensions. Then close where the prompt directs: on client safety. The interesting argument is whether restriction demonstrably improves safety outcomes or mainly limits access, and there is real evidence on both sides worth citing rather than asserting. Say which way you come down, and say what evidence would change your mind.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Ground a personal practice philosophy in named professional or accrediting competencies.
  • 02
    Identify a theorist or agency as the foundation of that philosophy.
  • 03
    Describe the dimensions along which APN prescriptive authority varies between states.
  • 04
    Compare two states' prescribing privileges on those dimensions.
  • 05
    Evaluate restriction and autonomy against client safety evidence.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Herzing NU 625 Unit 2 DQ 1 Personal Philosophy Develop a personal philosophy and framework acknowledging professional and accrediting agency competencies relating to the role and scope of practice of the family nurse practitioner. Identify a nurse theorist or professional accrediting agency that provides the foundation for this philosophy development. Secondarily, identify variations in prescriptive authority among APNs. Compare prescribing privileges from the state within you will practice and compare to another state. Discuss similarities and differences with a focus on client safety concerns or initiatives. Responses need to address all components of the question, demonstrate critical thinking and analysis, and include peer reviewed journal evidence to support the student’s position. 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. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
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 625 Unit 2 DQ 1 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.

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    A personal philosophy and framework acknowledging FNP role and scope competencies.
  2. 02
    An identified nurse theorist or accrediting agency providing its foundation.
  3. 03
    An account of variations in prescriptive authority among APNs.
  4. 04
    A comparison of your practice state with one other state.
  5. 05
    A discussion of similarities and differences focused on client safety.
03

Philosophy, foundation, authority variation, comparison

01

The philosophy

A practice philosophy stated in terms of FNP role and scope competencies.

02

Its foundation

One theorist or accrediting agency, and why it grounds this philosophy.

03

How prescriptive authority varies

Full versus reduced or restricted practice, schedule limits, state registration, conditions.

04

Two states compared

Your practice state against a meaningfully different one, dimension by dimension.

05

Client safety

What the evidence shows about restriction, access and patient outcomes.

04

Competency frameworks and state practice authority

Recommended databases

  • American Association of Nurse Practitioners
  • State boards of nursing
  • StatPearls via NCBI Bookshelf
  • PubMed
  • Course text on advanced practice roles

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Read the FNP core competencies from a named professional or accrediting body.
  2. 2.
    Choose one theorist or agency and read enough to ground a philosophy in it.
  3. 3.
    Read how full, reduced and restricted practice authority are defined.
  4. 4.
    Look up your own state's prescriptive authority rules and one contrasting state's.
  5. 5.
    Search for outcome studies comparing practice-authority models.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Roles

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024

    How scope of practice and prescriptive authority differ across states, which is the comparison's backbone.

  2. 02

    NP Safe Prescribing of Controlled Substances While Avoiding Drug Diversion

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024

    The controlled substance dimension of prescriptive authority and its client safety implications.

  3. 03

    Nursing Shortage

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024

    Access pressure, which is the counterweight to restriction in the client safety argument.

  4. 04

    Health Occupations

    MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · 2024

    Role definitions across the professions, useful for locating the FNP within the wider workforce.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Writing a philosophy of caring that never references any competency framework.
  • Naming several theorists and agencies rather than committing to one foundation.
  • Saying states differ without naming the dimensions along which they differ.
  • Comparing two states that have effectively the same authority model.
  • Overlooking state controlled-substance registration as separate from DEA registration.
  • Asserting that autonomy is safer or less safe without citing outcome evidence.

Submission checklist

  • The philosophy names the competencies it acknowledges.
  • One theorist or accrediting agency is identified as its foundation.
  • Variations in prescriptive authority are described along named dimensions.
  • Two specific states are compared, and they differ meaningfully.
  • The comparison is framed around client safety.
  • Peer-reviewed evidence supports the position, in APA format.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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