[Introduction and Activities of Nurse Practitioner in Japan in a University Hospital]

Nurse practitioner (NP) is widely known to be an essential position of medical team in the United States, but has not yet been established as an official qualification in Japan. NP in Japan (NP-J) is accepted instead of NP, but they are not the same. We summarized the actual activities of NP-J at our hospital and had an insight into the roles of NP-J in a university hospital and the problems of introduction of NP in the future. The benefits of working as a NP-J at a university hospital are the safe acquisition of procedures at an educational institution and the involvement of various departments. In the future, the education of NP-J in a university hospital may lead to the training of NP-J working in public and private hospitals. The problem of introduction of NP in the future is the legislation. The importance of task shifting and education of NP-J in a university hospital may lead to the spread of NP in the future in Japan.