Holistic Nursing Values in Nurse Practitioner Education

Much has been written about the inclusion of holistic nursing values and practices in undergraduate nursing education, but their inclusion and influence in advanced practice nursing education has not been fully explored. Nurse practitioners (NPs) are nurses, so it is assumed that the nursing perspective provides a framework for NP education and practice, and that NP education represents the blending of a holistic nursing approach with medical diagnosis and treatment. Nurse practitioners are taking increasing responsibility for filling the gap in primary healthcare availability in the U.S., and in the current political and economic healthcare climate, NPs are in a position to promote primary care models that honor comprehensive, patient-centered, and relationship-based care. As a result, it becomes essential to quantify the inclusion of these values in NP educational programs and coursework, as instilling core values for practice begins in educational environments. This quantitative, descriptive study explored the inclusion of holistic nursing values by NP faculty, using the Nurse Practitioner Holistic Caring Instrument (NPHCI). The NPHCI exhibited quite high reliability and validity in the sample, including confirmation of its three subscales. Survey results suggest that NP faculty actively incorporate holistic nursing values in educational coursework, and that age, length of time teaching in NP programs, highest educational degree, and academics as the primary area of practice were important indicators of the inclusion of holistic nursing values in NP program curricula. Findings add to knowledge of NP education, but further study is warranted.