The Role of the Emergency Nurse Practitioner: A Transcontinental Comparison

Originally designed to care for women and children, the nurse practitioner (NP) role has expanded  into a number of speciality areas.  One of the fastest growing specialty areas for NPs in the United States (US) is in emergency care (EC).  Tremendous growth has been seen in both the academic and clinical sides of the role in the past decade.  Clinically speaking, over five million emergency room (ER) patients were treated by nurse practitioners across the US in 2013.  From an academic standpoint, EC nurse practitioners programs are popping up across the country and a EC NP board certification was introduced in 2013.  But all is not well in the world of EC NPs.  This role is a greatly debated topic amongst professional NP organizations.  Issues such as scope of practice, academic preparation/primary specialty, appropriate patient population, and policy issues are being argued by a number of stakeholders.  The US is not the only country with nurse practitioners as emergency care providers.  The lack of primary care providers and expanding emergency department needs are both global issues.  Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom are just a few of the other countries who have adopted the EC NP role.    While the health care systems and needs of these countries are very different, the are a number of universal care concepts and standards seen with all emergency care.  This session looks at the need for the EC NP role, utilization of EC NPs throughout the world, and associated outcomes.  It also aims to establish global best practices for EC NPs.