Exploring conceptual and theoretical frameworks for nurse practitioner education: a scoping review protocol

Abstract

The use of conceptual and theoretical frameworks to organize the educational curriculum of nursing programs is essential to protect and preserve the focus and clarity of nursing's distinct contribution to health care. Conceptual frameworks of nursing provide a means to look at nursing in relationship to external factors, thereby assigning meaning to the practice. Graduate level nursing education in the preparation of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) specifically and Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) in general, is significantly compromised by the tendency to conceptualize the learning in these complex programs as being primarily related to skills-based tasks and competencies alone. According to Baumann, advanced nursing education must focus on the uniqueness of the NP position, in contrast to other health care professions. To do this, Baumann suggests using a conceptual nursing model and nursing theory as opposed to a strictly biomedical model. This allows NPs to interpret information in a way that differs from the strict biomedical model, providing opportunities for the NPs to be truly present in the lives of their patients.Canadian Nurse Practitioner (NP) practice competency documents are based primarily on the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Nurse Practitioner (NP) Core Competency Framework. This document defines the core set of entry-level competencies required for all NPs to practice in all Canadian jurisdictions, settings and client populations. The Core Competencies in the CNA NP Framework are organized within four main categories: professional role, responsibility and accountability; health assessment and diagnosis; therapeutic management; and health promotion and prevention of illness and injury. Although vital to the organization of provincial entry-level registration standards, this framework provides little direction to educational providers for curricula organization and philosophical perspectives.The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing developed a national framework for NP education following a multi-phase consultation and literature and curriculum synthesis project. While the task force addressed the guiding principles and essential components of NP education along with contextual factors that impact on the delivery of curricula in Canadian jurisdictions, the philosophical approaches guiding and organizing the education were not addressed.A similar set of documents has been created in the United States by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). These documents are organized by six population level foci (including the specialty of family/individual across the lifespan) and outline core competencies for entry to practice and registration and educational standards. The Core Competency documents provided by the NONPF are presented in the same manner as the CNA NP Framework and likewise, do not provide a guiding or organizing framework or philosophy for NP education.A full curriculum overhaul based on the NONPF competency requirements was performed at a university center in Or...

Development and Validation of the Nurse Prescribing Self-Efficacy Scale

“…On the contrary, low levels of self-efficacy have been considered a barrier to task performance and goal achievement (Boswell et al; 2020; Cope et al, 2020; Hernández-Padilla et al, 2016; Nuttall, 2018). Assessing nurses’ self-efficacy can contribute to highlight their educational needs and inform the development of new educational programs in nurse prescribing (Hall et al, 2020; Wilson et al, 2015). Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, there are no validated tools that allow for a valid and reliable assessment of self-efficacy in nurse prescribing.…”

The experience of being a psychiatric nurse in South Africa: A qualitative systematic review

“…Throughout this review, the following key terms are used as follows: African nurse was defined as a registered nurse who has graduated from an accredited and/or approved nursing programme, successfully passing the nurses registration examination and who has been working in any African country (Wilson et al, 2015). In this manner, we avoided including works where the care of people with mental health needs was applied by other participants such as the family, local leaders or other professionals.…”

Quality Assurance in Nursing Education: A Qualitative Study Involving Students and Newly Graduated Nurses

“…Kermansaravi et al [32] found that students liked theoretical contents that had applied value; otherwise studying them was a waste of time. We can state that there was a preference for biomedical courses, which could contrast/contradict the long struggle of nursing to carry out the conceptual and theoretical framework change in nursing training, as opposed to the traditional biomedical model [35]. In any case, the credit load is revisable and susceptible to modification, since the number of credits that each course must be is not stipulated by any Spanish law [5,26,27].…”