Pioneering a Primary Care ANP Interprofessional Fellowship
Pioneering a Primary Care ANP Interprofessional Fellowship
The experience of NPs in the post-master's adult NP interprofessional fellowship within the VACHS CoEPCE has shown the benefit of innovation in changing NP graduate education. It is possible to implement this change across all clinical areas in which NPs practice. Before this, graduate NPs were expected to continue their professional development as on-the-job training. This training may at times be unstructured and inconsistent and is highly dependent on the individual mentor. Structured interprofessional postgraduate fellowship training programs for NPs will transform the way in which they learn and practice. It will allow for continued professional development in a controlled environment and will give NPs the advantage of continuing their education from graduate school to sharpen their clinical skills, develop their practice, and understand the role of all health professionals on the team.
To ensure sustainability, we recommend that this shift will need to begin at the certification level in order to facilitate a universal change. Fortunately, we have already seen some of this occur with new NP competencies and the revamping of graduate nursing curricula through the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty. Future research should also focus on the impact of interprofessional faculty mentoring and precepting on trainee outcomes. There is also more research needed to show improved patient outcomes, improved graduate clinical accomplishment and personal career satisfaction, and improvement in collaboration among health care disciplines.
Implications for NP Education
The experience of NPs in the post-master's adult NP interprofessional fellowship within the VACHS CoEPCE has shown the benefit of innovation in changing NP graduate education. It is possible to implement this change across all clinical areas in which NPs practice. Before this, graduate NPs were expected to continue their professional development as on-the-job training. This training may at times be unstructured and inconsistent and is highly dependent on the individual mentor. Structured interprofessional postgraduate fellowship training programs for NPs will transform the way in which they learn and practice. It will allow for continued professional development in a controlled environment and will give NPs the advantage of continuing their education from graduate school to sharpen their clinical skills, develop their practice, and understand the role of all health professionals on the team.
To ensure sustainability, we recommend that this shift will need to begin at the certification level in order to facilitate a universal change. Fortunately, we have already seen some of this occur with new NP competencies and the revamping of graduate nursing curricula through the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty. Future research should also focus on the impact of interprofessional faculty mentoring and precepting on trainee outcomes. There is also more research needed to show improved patient outcomes, improved graduate clinical accomplishment and personal career satisfaction, and improvement in collaboration among health care disciplines.