Women's health: where are nurse practitioner programs headed?

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Women's Health
• Advanced Practice

Background:

• Historically, women's health focused narrowly on reproductive health.
• Graduate nurse practitioner (NP) programs are increasingly emphasizing primary care for women across their life cycle.
• This shift necessitates a review of current NP curricula and certification standards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey graduate nursing programs offering women's health and obstetric/gynecologic NP tracks regarding curriculum content.
• To determine if changes in certification requirements were influencing program offerings.
• To identify the need for a clearer definition of advanced practice in women's health.

Main Methods:

• A survey was distributed in 1996 to graduate nursing programs listed in the 1994 National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) directory.
• Twenty-eight out of 31 targeted programs responded to the survey.
• Data were analyzed using frequency distribution to compare curriculum content and program structures.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were documented among the surveyed women's health and obstetric/gynecologic NP programs.
• The findings suggest a lack of a standardized definition for advanced practice in women's health.
• Curriculum content and program focus varied considerably, impacting preparation for specialized roles.

Conclusions:

• A national dialogue is recommended to define advanced practice roles in women's health.
• Consideration should be given to establishing distinct NP program tracks: generalist primary care of women and specialist reproductive health.
• Clear differentiation is needed for graduate programs and certification exams to reflect specialized training.