Proposed standardized educational preparation for the emergency nurse practitioner

Abstract

The dynamic climate within health care policy-making and academia, in conjunction with updated Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) competencies and a recent role delineation study, supports development of standardized curricula to ensure appropriate preparation for practice. Emergency NP curricular content should align with the updated ENP Practice Standards and National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties' competencies for the Core and Family NP. This article provides rationale for establishing standardized educational curricula for ENP programs, delineates core specialty curricular content for inclusion, and discusses applicability of ENP specialty competencies within graduate academic education and postgraduate fellowship programs. As national ENP program curricula are standardized, clarity of the ENP specialty role will be enhanced and educational outcomes can be uniformly evaluated.