Where and How Will Nurse Practitioner and Other Health Professional Students Get Their Clinical Education? Results of the 2013 Multi-profession Clerkship/Clinical Training Site Survey

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act has provided a unique window of opportunity for nurse practitioners but also has dramatically enhanced the growing discord and concerns related to providing quality clinical education experiences for nurse practitioner (NP) students. The lack of availability of clinical training sites and preceptors has become a problem voiced not only by NP faculty but by all health professions. In a recent collaboration between the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Association of American Medical Colleges, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and Physician Assistant Education Association, the issue of required clinical training sites was examined through a national survey that was distributed to deans and program directors across the United States. Over 290 NP program directors (84%) provided a unique picture of the current state of NP clinical education. This session will report on the results of the survey, which show a general consensus across the professions that developing new and maintaining existing clinical training sites is a concern.  This concern is impacting the incentives given to sites, including financial incentives, as well as enrollment and the ability of the school or program to provide experiences for all health professions students, particularly in primary care and with some populations. Lack of sites in the immediate area of the school is forcing programs to expand the search radius for sites, which has consequences of increased competition with other schools and programs and of needing to provide alternative curricular options for students as a potential solution. Similarities and differences in the challenges and strategies to provide quality clinical experiences across these four health professions will be explored.