I distinctly recall the excitement I had starting my nursing career as a new graduate nurse resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Working in the Adult Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit was incredibly rewarding. There was nothing quite like weaning, waking, and extubating a fresh post-operative patient all in one shift’s work. However, I knew that my nursing calling stretched beyond the bedside.
This journey of discovery was fueled by my desire to build a diverse skill set. In the 13 years I have been a registered nurse (RN), I have proudly worn various hats, including bedside clinician, research nurse, manager, and educator. As I was completing my last practicum of my Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program, I discovered my passion and purpose—the nursing professional development (NPD) specialty.
I was fiercely inquisitive as an early-career nurse. Little did I know, I was building a skill set fit for the NPD specialty—a nursing specialty dedicated to the practice and competence of nurses and interprofessional team members, supporting professional role competence and growth geared towards optimal care and population health. The term NPD practitioner identifies the baccalaureate-prepared RN with NPD practice judgment who impacts the professional role competence and growth of these interprofessional learners.
The NPD Scope & Standards of Practice outlines six primary responsibilities for NPD practitioners:
- Orientation and onboarding
- Competency management
- Education
- Role development
- Collaborative partnerships
- Inquiry—research/evidence-based practice/quality improvement
Roles that NPD practitioners fulfill include learning facilitator, change agent, mentor, leader, champion for scientific inquiry, advocate for the NPD specialty, and partner for practice transitions. The NPD specialty is unique in that it is transferrable to any practice setting or interprofessional learning environment. Where there are nurses, there should be NPD practitioners facilitating their professional growth, and nurses practice in a variety of settings—from home care to hospice, to acute care settings, and ambulatory networks. All nurses must remain competent in their practice.
Now, more than ever, NPD practitioners are essential to supporting organizational strategic goals to enhance recruitment and retention, mitigate the experience-complexity gap, promote healthy work environments, and close the gaps outlined in The Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report. By exemplifying the competencies outlined in the NPD Scope & Standards of Practice, NPD practitioners are uniquely positioned to close these gaps.
However, NPD practice is not a revenue-generating specialty, so NPD practitioners must be able to articulate and demonstrate the value they add to their organizations and advocate for NPD to key stakeholders. This can be accomplished by aligning the contributions of NPD teams to organizational strategic goals and measurable outcomes.
If you identify as an NPD practitioner—or are interested in this unique specialty—there are several robust resources, tools, and activities available. Many of these resources can be found through the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD), the specialty’s professional organization. Sigma develops nurse leaders—which all NPD practitioners are—in all practice settings to improve healthcare everywhere. Both organizations have been integral to my professional development and commitment to ongoing professional learning to optimize my role, responsibilities, and pursuit to demonstrate my value as an NPD practitioner.
Jillian A. Russell, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, is the Accredited Provider Program Director for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a member of Sigma’s Iota at-Large and Phi Gamma Chapters.