Finding Florence: Shedding Light on Nurse Practitioners' Professional Responsibility

The new professional role ‘nurse practitioner’ (in Dutch: verpleegkundig specialist) challenges nurses to distuinguish themselves from nurses educated at the Bacher level by the criteria: independency, expertise, and an active attitude to role development. A crucial aspect of their role is to transform clinical care for the better.

The qualitative studies described in this thesis showed that nurse practitioners gained a place in the medical care process next to physicians. They enacted the monitoring of patient’s treatment as their prime responsibility. Most nurse practitioners prioritized treatment over daily life while moving patients’ illness perceptions to the background of attention.

To develop a broader perception on professional responsibility, a thorough understanding of people’s responses to changes in their health is a necessity for nurse practitioners. Advanced nursing implies meeting patient’s needs with the use of theory, research evidence, observations and experience to tailor nursing practice in complex and challenging situations.