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Nurse practitioner education challenges
We a
re inundated with the news pertaining to gaps in healthcare delivery. We are plagued by the critical shortages of healthcare providers. The current healthcare needs outweigh the availability of qualified healthcare professionals. Nurses answered the call to serve. Enrollment in graduate schools of nursing has increased. Conversely, nurse practitioner (NP) programs are experiencing hardships securing nursing faculty, preceptors, and clinical placement sites for students.
NP students are tasked with the responsibility of soliciting their own preceptors. As a result, NP students are often halted in the education process due to lack of procurement of clinical placement sites. Nursing faculty shortages curb movement and transition in graduate education. So, what’s the answer? Incentives. The Nurse Practitioner Association of New York introduced legislation to provide personal tax credit for nursing preceptors. Unfortunately, [New York State Senate bill] S4611B…and [New York State Assembly bill] A6820B… have since stalled. Continued efforts to enact legislation, to standardize the NP clinical experience, to bring awareness to critical shortages in nursing faculty, and to compensate preceptors are paramount.
Calls for development of efficient clinical education models and for recruitment of graduate nursing faculty are essential. Incentives for innovations in nursing curriculum are key. We are positioned between a rock and a hard place. Advancements in nursing as a profession and as a science are threatened and warrant heightened awareness and advocacy. We must take action to eradicate this dilemma. Nurses, in collaboration with professional nursing organizations, must take onus and champion the reform.
— Katrina Jones Galasik, BSN, RN, NP-S
Selected references
Clark CA, Kent KA, Riesner SA. A new approach for solving an old problem in nurse practitioner clinical education. J Nurse Pract. 2018;14(4):e69-75.
NY legislative update. J Nurse Pract Association New York State. 2018;8(2):1-31.
