The attending nurse: an evolving model for integrating nursing education and practice

• Published in: The open nursing journal Vol. 5; pp. 9 - 13
• Main Authors: Fulmer, Terry, Cathcart, Eloise, Glassman, Kimberly, Budin, Wendy, Naegle, Madeline, Devanter, Nancy Van
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates Bentham Open 2011
• Subjects: attending nurse; practice support; Collaboration
• ISSN: 1874-4346; 1874-4346
• DOI: 10.2174/1874434601105010009

The discipline of nursing continues to evolve in keeping with the dramatic expansion of scientific knowledge, technology, and a concomitant increase in complexity of patient care in all practice settings. Changing patient demographics require complex planning for co-morbidities associated with chronic diseases and life-saving advances that have altered mortality in ways never before imagined. These changes in practice, coupled with findings from sophisticated nursing research and the continuous development of new nursing knowledge, call for realignments of the relationships among academic faculty in schools of nursing, advanced practice nurse administrators, and staff nurses at the forefront of practice. This article offers a model designed to bridge the gaps among academic settings, administrative offices and the euphemistic "bedsides" where staff nurses practice. Here we describe the nurse attending model in place at the New York University Langone Medical Center (NYULMC) and provide qualitative data that support progress in our work.