The American Nurses' Association's Council of Clinical Nurse Specialists and Council of Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioners conducted a survey of all graduate nursing programs in the United States that prepare nurse practitioners and/or clinical nurse specialists. One hundred eight schools responded (73.5 percent), yielding data on 317 programs that could be further analyzed. For the 60 NP and 195 CNS programs analyzed, information was obtained on the following: required courses, number of hours of the required courses, students' clinical training settings and graduates' employment settings. Findings revealed marked similarity between the core curricula of NP and CNS graduate programs. The only significant differences found were that NP programs placed greater emphasis on pharmacology, primary care, physical assessment, health promotion, nutrition and history-taking in their curricula. In both the student clinical settings and graduate employment settings, NPs focused on primary care settings while CNSs focused on secondary or tertiary care settings. Based on the marked similarities between the core curricula of NP and CNS graduate programs, it is suggested that further investigations be conducted to determine whether objectives and/or teaching methods differ, and to further investigate the effects of practice setting on role development. Further, it is suggested that NPs and CNSs continue to interact through forums and conferences to continue the evolution and definition of graduate nursing education and advanced practice.

Curriculum↗

PubMed1990

The clinical nurse specialist and nurse practitioner: core curriculum survey results.

The fall 1986 newsletters of the Council of Clinical Nurse Specialists (CCNS) and the Council of Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioners (CPHCNP) featured an editorial examining the similarities and differences between the advanced practice roles of the nurse practitioner and the clinical nurse specialist. The article, entitled "Editorial on Specialization in Advanced Nursing Practice" and written by Patricia Sparacino, MS, RN, chairperson CCNS, and Barbara A. Durand, EdD, RN, FAAN, of the CPHCNP appeared in Momentum, Volume 4, Number 2/1986, and Newsletter, Volume 9, Number 2/1986. This initial exploration into advanced practice roles in nursing elicited a wide variety of responses from affiliates of both councils which, in turn, prompted the executive committees of both groups to convene a joint meeting. In the spring of 1987 the executive committees of the CCNS and the CPHCNP met to review affiliate response to the editioral, further explore concerns, and plan futher action. At that time it was decided to survey all nursing programs in the United States which provide graduate education for one or both of the advanced practice roles. It was hoped that the information gained from such a survey would provide a basis for future determinations. Survey data was compiled and presented to another joint meeting of the executive committees of the CCNS and the CPHCNP on October 3, 1989. This article reports the data, findings, and reactions of the executive committees of the councils in order to obtain feedback from our colleagues.

Curriculum↗