Development of a pediatric intensive care unit nurse practitioner program.

The use of acute care nurse practitioners in the adult critical care environment is well established. In the last several years, nurse practitioners are being used in the pediatric intensive care unit as well. Consequently, an increasing number of pediatric nurse practitioners have moved from primary care to the acute care environment. The recent development of the national acute care pediatric nurse practitioner certification examination provides validation of the education and standards of care provided by this subset of advanced practice nurses. The authors describe the highly successful pediatric critical care nurse practitioner program and its outcomes in a pediatric intensive care unit.