A clinical internship model for the nurse practitioner programme

Nurse practitioners in Victoria, Australia must be prepared to Masters level before seeking nurse practitioner (NP) endorsement. The challenge from a university curriculum development perspective was to develop a programme that prepares the NP theoretically and clinically for their advanced practice role. The aim of this discussion paper is to outline how the internship model was developed and report the students' opinions on the model. The NP students complete the internship with a suitably qualified mentor which requires them to work together to develop and maintain a clinical learning plan, keep a log of the weekly meetings that shows how the objectives have been achieved. The internship includes advanced clinical assessment, prescribing, diagnostic and treatment skills and knowledge related to the nurse's specialty. The clinical assessment tool incorporates the National Competency Standards for the Nurse Practitioner and allows students and mentors to identify the level of practice and set clinical objectives. Students were asked to give feedback on the clinical internship and overall their comments were favourable, reporting benefits of a clinical mentor in their work and the clinical case presentations. The clinical internship allows the acquisition of knowledge and clinical skills in the clinical specialty with an expert clinical mentor in this innovative programme.