[Northern Taiwan nurse practitioners' perceptions of their roles]

The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore northern Taiwan nurse practitioners' perceptions of their roles. Eight nurse practitioners participated in this research, which used purposive sampling. Data were collected by in-depth audio-taped interviews, and analysed by qualitative content analysis. For qualitative research, data analysis and data collection go hand in hand. Four themes were evolved from data analysis, which were roles dilemma, roles daybreak, roles function and roles requirement. According to findings, nurse practitioners confront roles dilemma in both intra-professional and inter-professional conflicts and risk of illegal practice. However, nurse practitioners find daybreak from clinical effectiveness, positive role recognition and the progress of related regulations. They conceive their role capability as that of medical subordinate, coach, counselor, and coordinator. They emphasize important requirements for being a nurse practitioner, such as a Bachelor's degree, 5 years medical-surgical practice experience, achieving level 3 on the nursing clinical ladder and possessing an ACLS license. The above research findings might be used to support decision making for NP policy in the future.