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The nursing sector has long wanted a more streamlined and supported path for nurses seeking to be nurse practitioners Nursing Review reports on a pilot that hopes to do just that.

The long-awaited go-ahead has been given to piloting a dedicated training programme for 20 would-be nurse practitioners in 2016.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman announced the go-ahead in late July for the $846,000 demonstration that will be funded by Health Workforce New Zealand (HWNZ) and provided by The University of Auckland and Massey University nursing schools.

Associate professor Judy Kilpatrick, head of The University of Auckland nursing school, says the school was delighted to hear about the green light. “We see this as an extremely positive move to ensure a steady stream of well-qualified NPs into the health workforce.”

Professor Jenny Carryer of the Massey University school of nursing says Massey is also “absolutely delighted”.

“We will be working now with the numerous individuals and potential employers who have expressed interest,” she said.

The first NP was registered in 2001 but growth in NPs and NP jobs were slow with it taking a decade for the 100th NP to be registered, prompting an initial proposal in 2010 by the then Nurse Practitioner Advisory Commmittee of New Zealand (NPAC-NZ) for a dedicated NP training programme. In December 2013 the latest proposal was first put forward to HWNZ and 18 months later has won ministerial support.

Kilpatrick says the aim of the NP programme is to streamline the NP pathway with a one-year focused programme of study and supervised clinical practice.

Closing “wasteful gap”

Kilpatrick and Michal Boyd, a practicing NP and senior lecturer, argued in their initial application for HWNZ funding that a dedicated training programme was needed because of the current “wasteful gap” between the number of nurses completing their clinical master’s training and the number progressing to obtaining NP jobs.

Two of the reasons suggested for this gap were the need to streamline the NP training pathway, including protected supervised clinical training hours, and ensuring there is a job for prospective NPs at the end of the pathway.

This proposal requires NP trainees to already have the backing of an employer ready to offer them employment as an NP on registration. Kilpatrick says depending on interest from candidates and employers the school may look to broker arrangements between keen employers and appropriate NP candidates. Carryer says she has also had approaches from some potential NPs who have completed a master’s degree but are still very interested in aspects of the programme.

NP Dr Helen Snell, who was behind the initial NPAC-NZ application, says she is sure the members of the former committee will be as delighted as she is to finally see an NP training programme up and running.

“We congratulate the two universities and the nursing leadership groups for collaboratively pursuing and achieving the establishment of a structured programme to support our future nurse practitioner workforce.”

She says the universities’ programme addressed most of the concerns that NPAC-NZ had at the time and that were proposed in NPAC-NZ’s draft specifications. But she says one area that did not appear to be specifically covered by the university programme is clinical leadership. Snell says while NPs are primarily clinicians they also have a responsibility as advanced practice clinicians for clinical leadership, practice development and measurement of outcomes.

Priority for places in next year’s training programmes being offered by Massey and Auckland will be given to applicants in primary health care, aged care and mental health. If successful, it is expected the programme will be opened up to other nursing schools currently offering clinical master’s degrees to would-be NPs.

A spokesperson for Coleman’s office said the $846,000 funding was not new money but would be “reprioritised” from HWNZ’s overall appropriation of $174 million and would be on top of the existing $13 million allocated annually to postgraduate nursing study (including trainee NPs, who are not part of the demonstration).

“Nurse practitioners are a valuable resource. They are highly educated and experienced, and are a key part of our health workforce,” Coleman said at the time of the announcement.