Adult NP Programs Increase Expertise
by Jon Eichberger
Students enrolled in adult primary and adult acute care nurse practitioner (NP) programs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing will soon focus on every aspect of adult care, from post-adolescent to older adult.
The Adult Acute Care NP curriculum, renamed Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, will transition in the spring 2012 semester to a format that integrates the full range of gerontology expertise. In the fall 2012 semester, the Adult Nurse Practitioner program will become the Adult-Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner.
“The changes will prepare NP graduates to provide acute, critical, and chronic care services across the entire spectrum of adult health,” says associate professor Julie Stanik-Hutt, PhD, ACNP/GNP, director of the master’s program. “Graduates will continue to focus their practice on the care of individuals who are physiologically unstable, technologically dependent and requiring frequent monitoring and/or interventions, and those who are highly vulnerable for complications.” These modifications reflect nursing’s need for increased depth of expertise in addressing the expanding population of older adults. Recent policy changes regarding the role and population focus for certified registered nurse practitioners have been identified in the new NP competencies and outlined in the Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education (2008). The new model has been endorsed by over 45 national nursing organizations and provides the framework for these new population foci