Jordanian perspectives on advanced nursing practice: an ethnography

This study aimed to explore how different groups of participants perceived the concept of advanced nursing practice in Jordan.

In Jordan, there are postgraduate educational programmes offering a Master's degree in clinical nursing for registered nurses. Intended to prepare nurses to practise at an advanced level as potential clinical nurse specialists in critical care, community health nursing and maternal newborn nursing, little was known prior to this study about the development of advanced nursing roles for nurses in Jordan and the drivers behind their establishment.

Using ethnographic design, narratives from semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation with participants from five Jordanian hospitals and two public universities were collected and analysed according to thematic analysis.

Four themes emerged from the data: core competencies, specific practice area vs. generic practice, beneficiaries of advanced nursing practice and drivers for educational change. The findings are similar to those found in other countries and highlight the need for a consensual understanding between nurse educationalists, professional bodies and employers about what advanced nursing practice in Jordan should be, so that a common framework can be identified.

Paralleling the lack of consistency in understanding of advanced nursing practice in the broader literature, participants described a number of different elements of advanced practice that are relevant to the specific context of contemporary Jordanian nursing.