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Introduction

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Nurse Practitioners and the Performance of Professional Competency

Part of the book series: Communicating in Professions and Organizations ((PSPOD))

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Abstract

Healthcare visits with nurse practitioners (NPs) are becoming more common in the United States. Despite their growing numbers, we know little about NPs’ interactional practices. This book addresses this gap in the literature by providing a discourse analytic account of NP–patient interactions. In this introductory chapter, prior research on NPs’ effectiveness as healthcare providers lays the groundwork for the analytical chapters which follow. The book considers how NPs’ interactional practices align with the concept of professional ‘competency’; therefore, a discussion of how ‘competency’ is defined in terms of effective communication and its link to positive health outcomes and patient satisfaction is discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the research context and a brief description of the remaining chapters.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The VA system provides health care for former US military personnel. It is one of the largest providers of health care in the United States (United States Department of Veterans Affairs, 2017).

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  1. English, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Staci Defibaugh

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  1. Staci Defibaugh
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Defibaugh, S. (2018). Introduction. In: Nurse Practitioners and the Performance of Professional Competency. Communicating in Professions and Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68354-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68354-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68353-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68354-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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