Nurse Practitioner Residency Programs: An Educational Journey.

摘要

Primary care is in a state of crisis due to the lack of clinicians and increasing numbers of insured patients. Encouraging more students to go directly through school for their doctor of nursing practice degree and nurse practitioner (NP) certifications is one proposal to alleviate this crisis. However, this approach would deliver graduates with minimal leadership and clinical experiences directly into practice. One resolution to mitigate this concern would be an NP residency program. Evaluating the knowledge and attitudes of stakeholders prior to the implementation of a NP residency program is an important first step to this implementation plan. The purpose of this project was to assess the knowledge and attitudes about NP residency programs of 2 stake holders: administrators and NPs at a rural upstate New York health care system, Bassett Healthcare, and to compare responses of those fiscally with those clinically oriented. Using literature less than 6 years old about NP residencies, a 28-question survey tool was created to assess knowledge and attitudes of NP residency programs. Content validity was established by 6 hand-selected NPs and administrators who had expert knowledge of residency programs. Once validity was established, the tool was distributed to a convenience sample of NPs and administrators at Bassett Healthcare Network via e-mail. The sample included 20 administrators and 44 NPs. A Mann-Whitney U test revealed no statistical differences between the 2 groups on any item. However, a majority of both groups felt the programs should be mandatory for all NPs. This project may be the first step in formation of a NP residency program that could alleviate transitional stress, decrease turnover, and produce better clinically-prepared NPs, thus benefitting the profession and society.