Major
Nursing
Advisor
Paquette, Katherine
Advisor Department
Nursing, College of
Advisor
Paquette, Katherine
Advisor Department
Nursing, College of
Date
4-2016
Keywords
Advanced Practice; Nursing; Practitioners; Institute of Medicine
Abstract
The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2010) by The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is a clinical report that sets initiatives and recommendations for the future of the nursing profession. This report suggested increasing the number of nurses in advanced practice nursing roles in the future years. It proposed that “each accredited nursing school should ensure that at least 10 percent of all baccalaureate graduates matriculate into a master’s or doctoral program within 5 years of graduation.” Advanced practice nursing is defined by Hamric, Spross, and Hanson (2005) as “the application of an expanded range of practical, theoretical, and research-based competencies to phenomena experienced by patients within a specialized clinical area of the larger discipline of nursing” (p. 89).
The Spring 2016 Advanced Practice Nursing (APRN) Forum was conceived and developed to fulfill the Nurse of the Future IOM initiatives by providing timely and real-life information on APRN roles to baccalaureate nursing students. I used strict organization and prioritization to ensure that all aspects critical to the program were addressed. I conducted research on advanced practice nursing as well as areas of interest to nursing students to provide the most accurate and appealing information to the participants. The purpose of the Forum was to provide critical information to College of Nursing students on advanced practice nursing roles, as experienced by the practitioners themselves. Participant objectives were to: 1) identify educational pathways to becoming an APRN, 2) describe a variety of APRN roles, 3) obtain knowledge and a better understanding of advanced practice nursing, 4) consider advanced practice nursing as a possible career path, and 5) feel that the Forum provided valuable information for their future educational endeavors. The Forum panel was composed of a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Family Nurse Practitioner, and two Clinical Nurse Specialists.
The Forum on April 4, 2016 from 5:30 – 7:00pm was attended by 120 undergraduate nursing students. Each panelist spoke for five to ten minutes on their current practice, educational trajectory, experience in their role as an APRN, and the reasons that motivated them to pursue an advanced practice degree in nursing. Following the panelists’ presentations, a question and answer session took place with questions that had been previously identified by the College of Nursing’s May 2016 graduating class as well as those from the audience. The questions included educational requirements, financial reimbursement, malpractice insurance, and advice on suggested years of practice before pursuing an advanced practice degree. Participants were asked to complete a forum evaluation based on the objectives. The response rate was 63%. All participants either strongly agreed or agreed that all objectives were met. My personal goals for this Forum were to improve my task organization and prioritization skills, enhance my nursing research skills, and gain knowledge and information on different areas of advanced practice nursing. Future development of this project should involve diversifying the panel by including more APRN roles and more culturally diverse APRNs. An APRN Forum should be included as part of the undergraduate nursing curriculum to support the Nurse of the Future IOM initiatives and encourage baccalaureate nursing to pursue advanced practice nursing education.
Comments
This Honors project poster illustrates the process of development and outcome assessment of the Spring 2016 Advanced Practice Nursing Forum. The Forum was conducted on April 4, 2016 and attended by 120-undergraduate nursing students from the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing and Alpha Tau Delta, the university’s professional nursing sorority/fraternity. The forum educated the participants on various advanced practice nursing roles and educational pathways towards advanced practice nursing degrees through information provided to the participants by advanced practice practitioners themselves. It aimed to provoke interest in advanced practice nursing in the participants to support the initiatives and recommendation set for the future of the nursing profession by the Institute of Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health clinical report. A question and answer session was held towards the end of the forum with pre-formulated questions by the University of Rhode Island’s May 2016 graduating nursing class. Then an open question and answer session was held for all participants. A program evaluation was completed by the participants based on the established objectives for the forum. All participants strongly agreed or agreed that all objectives were met. Many positive qualitative comments were offered highlighting the effectiveness of the forum in raising student awareness of advanced practice nursing roles and degrees. Overall, the Spring 2016 Advanced Practice Nursing Forum was successful in fulfilling the objectives identified for this Honors project.