Curricula and learning objectives in nurse practitioner programmes: a scoping review protocol

Abstract

IntroductionGlobally, nurse practitioner (NP) has become an important nursing role in the pursuit of a more efficient healthcare, possessing the necessary expert skills to work as autonomous practitioners. Nevertheless, there are barriers in the implementation of this role. One barrier concerns the different levels of education required for NPs. Previous studies demonstrate the importance of acting for a uniform international education. The aim of the scoping review was to compile research about education to become an NP, focusing on the content of curricula and learning objectives.Methods and analysisThe six-stage methodological framework by Arksey and O’Malley will guide the scoping review through the following stages: identifying the research questions; identifying relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; collating, summarising and reporting the results; and consultation. The research questions are as follows: What is the content of curricula in NP programmes? What are the learning objectives in NP programmes? The literature searches will be conducted between March and June 2019 in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL and ERIC, followed by hand searching reference lists of key studies. Grey literature will be searched in Google Scholar, Libsearch, existing networks and relevant organisations. Two researchers will screen titles and abstracts. Included full-text articles will be screened by three researchers and assessed for their methodological quality by the use of the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. The PreferredReporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow diagram will be used to demonstrate included and excluded articles. The findings will be presented through a numerical summary of the included articles, followed by a thematic analysis.Ethics and disseminationResearch ethics approval is not required for a scoping review. The scoping review will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Additionally, the findings will be disseminated to stakeholders representing political, educational, professional and union organisations through a Delphi study as part of the consultation stage of the Arksey and O’Malleys framework.

Exploring the pioneering nurse practitioner role in Sweden: insights and perspectives for potential role development into municipal healthcare

“…The present scoping review adheres to six-stage methodological framework: i) formulate research questions, ii) identify relevant studies, iii) select studies, iv) chart data, v) collate, summarize and report the results, vi) consultations (this is an voluntary step and not used in this scoping review). It was preceded by a study protocol (Ljungbeck et al, 2019), that describes the methodological approach which followed the steps in the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews . Note, we continue to use "papers" when we discuss since the included papers are not only research studies but also educational standards and opinions pieces.…”