Nurse practitioner education: greater demand, reduced training opportunities.

PURPOSE

To document the factors that are increasing the tension between nurse practitioner (NP) educational programs and the clinical training sites needed for NP students.

DATA SOURCES

Literature and the faculty experiences garnered over years of placing NP students for clinical training.

CONCLUSIONS

Several conditions converge to create a situation where sites are increasingly reluctant to precept NP students. The underlying dynamics are diverse and include factors related to the electronic health record, productivity expectations, and the increasing demand for sites as a result of increasing NP enrollments and competing healthcare provider programs.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The nursing community should approach this issue strategically and devise an action and policy agenda to support NP training, including federal monies to support NP training in a design that parallels the Graduate Medical Education; recognition of NPs as licensed professionals in advanced training; and identification of meaningful incentives for NP preceptors.