The scope of advanced nursing practice

The paper, a response to the Ministerial Taskforce on Nursing, has been developed to contribute to the current discussion about nursing practice. The evolving conceptualisation of the scope of practice in New Zealand is scanned as the backdrop for critique of the current trend. An overview of some aspects of developments in the United Kingdom and United States serves to highlight some significant issues concerning the potential for nurses to contribute innovatively to health care in the new era of change. An alternative conceptualisation of practice in three nurse role categories is presented as the inter-relationship of scope and expertise to illustrate how the trend to specialisation might be incorporated in a service scheme founded in the discipline of nursing.