Are you a nurse practitioner or wanting to become one? Then Hart's research will hold your interest. She is concerned about nurse practitioner students' transitions to confident practicing NPs. Read to the end of this post for an extremely interesting finding.
Dr. Hart is the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Director at the UWFWW School of Nursing. She is pictured here with former DNP students David Wells and Teresa Thompson.
NEW NPs: anxiety and self-doubt.
During Hart's 20 years practicing as a nurse practitioner (NP) and mentoring new NP grads, Hart is all too familiar with the difficulties experienced by new NPs entering the primary care practice workforce. Although research from multiple studies indicates that NPs provide quality care that results in high patient satisfaction and health outcomes, Hart and other researchers have found that the transition from NP student to practicing NP is often difficult and associated with much anxiety and self-doubt. Unlike physicians--who rely on well-established post-graduate residencies to help them transition into practice--until recently, post-graduate transition opportunities for new NPs were non-existent. Hart and colleague’s research (Hart & Macnee, 2007; Hart & Bowen, 2016) indicates that over 85% of new NPs in the U.S. would have pursued a post-graduate NP residency experience had one been available.
NP RESIDENCIES ARISE.
So the nation’s first NP residency was established in 2007 at Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI) in Middletown, CT. This one-year, paid residency experience provides newly graduated NPs with mentoring and skills training in a supportive environment, while they gain experience and confidence in providing primary care to a complex and underserved population. CHCI’s residency model is now being adopted by a steadily growing number of NP residencies across the nation, and in 2015, the National Consortium of National Nurse Practitioner Residency and Fellowship Training (www.nppostgradtraining.com) was established to support post-graduate NP residencies and to develop national accreditation for these residences.
NP RESIDENT REFLECTIONS.
With support from the UW School of Nursing's Sharon S. Humenick fund, Hart recently partnered with Dr. Margaret Flinter from CHCI to explore reflective weekly journals kept by the first cohorts of CHCI’s NP residents. Hart and Flinter found that the residency experience not only resulted in increased feelings of competence and confidence but also in a strong desire to work with the underserved (Flinter & Hart, 2017).
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Citations:
Hart, A.M. & Macnee, C.L. (2007). How well are NPs prepared for practice?: results of a 2004 questionnaire study. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner, 19, 35-42.
Hart, A.M. & Bowen, A. (2016). New NPs’ Perceptions of preparedness for and transition into practice. Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 12(8), 545-552.
Flinter, M. & Hart, A.M. (2017). Thematic elements of the postgraduate NP residency year and transition to the primary care provider role in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 7(1), 95-106.
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Page placed 10/14/2016
