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NP Research Agenda

On October 9, 2015, the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) hosted the second Nurse Practitioner Research Agenda Roundtable in Washington, D.C. Twenty Roundtable participants represented a number of nurse practitioner (NP) stakeholder organizations and were selected based on their knowledge of the existing body of knowledge regarding NPs.

The purpose of the Roundtable was to revisit and revise the 2010 NP Research Agenda. During a sequence of robust facilitated discussions, participants clarified and updated the Research Agenda, highlighting critical research priorities for the next five years, as well as strategies to promote awareness and implementation of the Roundtable recommendations.

Participants focused their discussion on research priorities in four cross-cutting areas: policy and regulation, practice models, NP workforce and characteristics and education. Within each of these areas, topics were identified and prioritized through a series of plenary and small-group discussions. Participants also discussed potential barriers and challenges in achieving the agenda, as well as strategies to address these challenges.

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Top Three Research Priorities Identified in Each Category

  • Policy and Regulation
    1. Investigating how federal policy affects NP outcomes
    2. Examine how interstate regulatory differences affect NP workforce distribution, NP practice patterns and opportunities, consumer access to health care and clinical and economic outcomes
    3. Measure the outcomes associated with localized policies of health care payer organizations and health care employers impact on NPs
  • Practice Models
    1. Examine the impact of full implementation of the Consensus Model
    2. Study the influence of institutional policies on NP outcomes
    3. Include NP providers and associated outcome measures in new practice models
  • NP Workforce and Characteristics
    1. Establish a national NP database, including the universe of those prepared in the NP role, and identify each NP with a unique identifier that can be used in a variety of databases
    2. Identify current and projected gaps in the NP workforce
    3. Examine how changes in policy, practice and education influence and/or leverage the NP workforce
  • Education
    1. Measure how educational program outcomes and program quality, satisfaction and cost effectiveness are influenced by different educational models
    2. Study how educational factors influence program outcomes
    3. Investigate the influence of varied educational models in creating or nurturing leadership skills amongst NP graduates