ONS Connect - December 2008 - (Page 28) Final Consensus Regarding APRN Regulation Is Released I n July 2008, the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Joint Dialogue Group released a final consensus document regarding the regulation of APRNs, which has been formally endorsed by the ONS and Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC) boards of directors. The proposed model is based on the premise that APRNs are educated and licensed as independent practitioners in one of the four defined roles—certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, certified nurse practitioners (NPs), or certified clinical nurse specialists (CNSs)—and that they are also educated, certified, and licensed to care for specific patient populations— adult (encompasses gerontology), family (across the lifespan), pediatric, neonatal, women’s health, or psychiatric/mental health. Regulation will occur at this broad level, requiring that all APRNs obtain broadbased education that includes role and population competencies and pass a certification examination that tests those competencies. State boards of nursing will license APRNs in the role and population in which they are educated and certified. Preparation in a specialty practice area will build on the APRN role and population-specific competencies but will not be regulated or determined by the state boards of nursing. Therefore, specialties may be defined in a variety of ways, including a focus on specific subpopulations (e.g., adolescents, gerontology), specific healthcare needs that cross over populations (e.g., palliative care), or specific disease states (e.g., oncology, nephrology). The model recommends that APRNs who specialize beyond the population ONS CONNECT level demonstrate those competencies through certification, but it does not dictate how specialty competencies should be attained. They may be attained within the graduate program (but must be in addition to the role and population competencies), or they may be attained through postgraduate, certificate, or continuing education programs. The oncology specialty is the prototype for the model. A relatively large number of APRNs specialize in oncology, but few graduate programs are specifically dedicated to the specialty. A majority of candidates applying for advanced oncology certification did not attain specialty oncology competencies through their graduate education programs. Most are graduates of broader, population-based programs such as adult primary, adult acute, medical-surgical, or family care, and many are certified in these broad areas for regulatory purposes. Some APRNs received specialty content as part of their graduate programs (e.g., through electives or targeted clinical experiences), but many attained the competencies through post-graduate programs or continuing education and experience. This model offers the opportunity for institutions to develop oncology postgraduate programs for APRNs who have broad-based graduate education. Over the past year, ONS has released detailed sets of competencies for on- cology NPs and CNSs that provide the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities of entry-level oncology APRNs. Both are offered for download from the ONS Web site at www.ons.org/clinical/pro fessional/QualityCancer/documents/ NPCompentencies.pdf and www.ons .org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/ documents/cnscomps.pdf. ONS also will continue to offer continuing education programs to assist APRNs to attain and maintain the advanced practice knowledge and skills necessary to competently provide care to patients with cancer, and ONCC will continue to administer certification examinations for oncology NPs and CNSs that are sound, reliable, valid, and representative of current practice. The model is expected to be phased in, with a target date for complete implementation of 2015. For more information on the APRN regulation model, including the background on the consensus, visit www.ons.org/doc uments/JointDialogueReport.pdf. ✱ 28 December 2008 http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/NPCompentencies.pdf http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/NPCompentencies.pdf http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/NPCompentencies.pdf http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/cnscomps.pdf http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/cnscomps.pdf http://www.ons.org/clinical/professional/QualityCancer/documents/cnscomps.pdf http://www.ons.org/documents/JointDialogueReport.pdf http://www.ons.org/documents/JointDialogueReport.pdf
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.