[Nursing skill levels and implementation of Advanced Nursing Practice in Austria: A cross-sectional study]

Nursing skill levels and implementation of Advanced Nursing Practice in Austria: A cross-sectional study Abstract: Background: New fields of practice are emerging under the concept of "Advanced Nursing Practice" (ANP) that offer specialised care provided by nurses who hold master's degrees. In Austria, nurses are currently being trained as Advanced Practice Nurses (APN). Aim: The project aimed to investigate which advanced nursing practice tasks according to the Hamric model are undertaken by nurses at different levels of qualification in Austria. Methods: Certified nurses did participate in a cross-sectional survey through an online questionnaire based on the Role Delineation Model and tailored to the Austrian context. The tasks were assigned based on the Hamric model and were tested and evaluated descriptively according to the qualification level through factor analysis. Results: Completed data was available from 105 participants, among them 80% with undergraduate education, 20% with a master's degree. A tendency in the results showed that the level of qualification was related to the activities carried out. The higher the academic degree, the more activities were performed in the field of leadership. The central ANP-competencies, research and education, are rather weak among all respondents. Conclusion: The results show that activities corresponding to the competencies of an ANP are performed by a heterogeneous group of nurses. Conditions and a standardized understanding of ANP need to be established in order to offer a professional practice that matches the competency profile.