Development of Thai Medical- Surgical Advanced Practice Nurse

Abstract

Advanced practice nursing reflects advancement of the nursing profession in clinical practice. Advanced practice nurses in Medical-Surgical Nursing provide care for patients with complex health problems.  They use competency in advanced practice nursing for patients’ desirable outcomes in treatment, functional ability, self-care ability, and quality of life, resulting in good organizational outcomes in terms of reduced cost, length of hospital stay, teamwork development, and human resource development, as well as prestige of their hospital.  Advanced practice nursing was initiated by clinical nurse faculties in Medical Nursing value the excellence of clinical practice.  The Master of Nursing Science Program is developed for preparing advanced practice nurses.  However, the healthcare policy factor, the personal factor of advanced practice nurses, the organizational factor, and the educational factor for preparing the advanced practice nurses do not adequately facilitate their roles.  Therefore, the number of certified advanced practice nurses in Medical-Surgical Nursing is less than requirement. To enhance the number of advanced practice nurses, two strategies should be performed by strengthening competency of advanced practice nurses in the Board Certified Training Program in Medical –Surgical Nursing and promoting advanced practice roles of nurses who do not enroll in the training program to be able to pass the examination for the Diplomate certificate, Thai Board of Advance Practice in Medical-Surgical Nursing (Dip. APMSN). These two strategies should increase the number of advanced practice nurses and thereby, serving to the healthcare demands of people in the Thai society.