An educational partnership to develop acute care nurse practitioners

Hospitals currently are involved in a restructuring of the medical and nursing workforce as fiscal restraint and downsizing proceed. Changes in organizational structure, reductions in medical school enrollments and available resident positions, and the reconfiguration of nursing positions are common events. Noted gaps in the provision of care to patients are creating an opportunity to develop a new provider, an acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP). The need for ACNPs was identified in a series of consultations between the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and affiliated hospitals. In response to this need the Faculty of Nursing, with the assistance of the Max Bell Foundation, developed a three month post masters Fast Track Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program in collaboration with 10 hospitals. Fifty-nine masters prepared nurses successfully completed one of four cycles of a concentrated program which included courses in Pharmacology, Advanced Assessment and Clinical Decision Making, Roles and Issues, and a four-week Clinical Practicum. Evaluation of graduates' competence to fulfil the nursing and medical role expectations included focus group discussions, an external review of case studies, and a questionnaire to hospital partners about their satisfaction with the program graduates.