Meta-synthesis on nurse practitioner autonomy and roles in ambulatory care

Many healthcare stakeholders view nurse practitioners (NPs) as an important workforce resource to help fill the anticipated shortage of 20,400 ambulatory care physicians that is expected by 2020. Multiple quantitative studies revealed the attributes of NPs' practice autonomy and roles. However, there is no qualitative meta-synthesis that describes the experiences of NPs' practice autonomy and roles.

To describe and understand the experiences of NPs regarding their practice autonomy and roles in various ambulatory settings through the exploration of existing qualitative studies: meta-synthesis.

A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to gain insight into ambulatory NPs' practice autonomy and roles through content analysis and reciprocal translation.

Articles published between 2000 and 2017 were retrieved by searching 7 databases using the following key words: U.S. qualitative studies, advance practice nurses, NP role in ambulatory care, NP autonomy, and outpatient care.

Autonomy, NPs' roles and responsibilities, practice relationships, and organizational work environment pressures are the four main themes that emerged from the content analysis of the nine selected qualitative studies.

Within and between states, NPs' experiences with autonomy and NPs' roles are multifaceted depending on state regulations, practice relationships, and organizational work environments.