President's Message

The Mentor - Volume 15, Number 1, 2004

In April 2004, we will celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the annual meeting for nurse practitioner (NP) education. This is truly worthy of a celebration! In 1974, a single meeting to discuss NP curriculum has led to a thirty-year tradition of faculty convening to discuss the latest issues in NP education. Throughout the years, NONPF's annual meeting has not lost its relevance. It continues as a resource for NP faculty and as a critical forum for generating discussion from which new guidelines, publications, and strategic directions emerge. I have written before on how personally invigorating I find the meeting, yet it is equally critical to the rejuvenation of the profession and the organization.

It is through our ongoing dialogue at the annual meeting and through other forums within NONPF that we have addressed some of the issues in NP education today and for the future. NONPF organized officially six years after that first 1974 meeting of NP educators out of a recognized need to continue the discussions about NP educational issues and to provide the annual forum for faculty to network and exchange ideas. Today, NONPF continues its role in shaping new paradigms and in promoting quality in NP education.

One of the ongoing challenges to NP educators is ensuring that we are preparing graduates to position themselves for the numerous opportunities across health care systems. Over the past thirty years, educators have expanded and adjusted programs to prepare graduates to meet market demands and to have the skills for the practice environment. As the health care environment continues to evolve and the opportunities for NPs expand, we struggle to provide the didactic content and clinical hours within a program of reasonable length. As well, we face the market pressures of preparing graduates for specialized positions while still preparing graduates in broad specialty areas for career roles as NPs. In the first annual National Healthcare Quality Report, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality surmises that improvement to the quality of health care is possible through "innovation that is led by 'champions' with the vision to customize improvements to local circumstances." NPs are these champions in the health care system. As an organization, NONPF is committed to identifying and addressing the educational imperatives to prepare NPs for these opportunities.

One overarching imperative in NP education is to keep the educational design of NP programs fluid to match the market demands. Change in educational design does not assume inadequacies in current models; instead, change champions the growth and breadth of the profession. Our solid foundation in nursing does not change, but the shape and form of our NP programs may adapt to meet the needs of the patients, the employers, the students, and the nursing profession. Consider how NP education emerged first in the form of non-degree certificate programs and quickly evolved into graduate degree programs. In more recent years, new program designs have emerged to accommodate the non-traditional students, the growing influx of non-nursing prepared students, and the borderless classroom. Each year at the annual meeting we hear highly informative and provocative presentations from faculty reporting on their different program designs to fill a particular niche in the local community or to address national trends. Yet, the curriculum guidelines and program guidelines for NP programs remain the gold standards for quality across all educational designs. NONPF will continue our role in developing and maintaining competencies for nurse practitioners at entry and advanced levels, as well as promoting national guidelines for program quality....and NONPF will also continue to foster the exploration of new models and innovations in NP program design.

For the past several years, NONPF has been exploring the practice (clinical) doctorate design and how it may fit with NP education. The NONPF Board has expressed general support of the practice doctorate preparation and the opportunities for career mobility and leadership roles that may result from this preparation. We have had a task force in place that has published analysis of some of the issues driving this preparation. We have engaged our membership in discussion though the annual meeting, a Teleweb, and surveys. On December 8, we co-hosted a meeting with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to engage other stakeholder organizations in advanced practice nursing, education, regulation, and certification in this discussion (see article elsewhere in this issue). These discussions have addressed the evolution of nursing practice in the health care system and the possibilities that a clinical practice might offer. Much like a corporation, nursing has to think to succession planning and leadership development for its workforce needs. The exploration and the dialogue continue – not in isolation, but in the context of other initiatives and trends that will influence the shape and design of nursing education across all levels.

Activities within NONPF reflect our commitment to continued quality nurse practitioner education, including the development of new competencies, the exploration of new models, and the fostering of innovation to meet the needs of the consumers of nurse practitioner services. We welcome discussion from you of these issues, as dialogue among members is part of what has kept this organization strong. I look forward to seeing all of you in San Diego at this year’s annual meeting and anticipate fruitful discussions about issues that are before us.