Updated Guidelines for WHNP Education and Practice: A Building Block for Curriculum Development

The newly released Women's Health Nurse Practitioner: Guidelines for Education and Practice, 7^th Edition (The WHNP Guidelines) represents a comprehensive review of the WHNP role and promotes the transformation of education, practice and leadership for WHNP’s as full partners within a complex and evolving health care environment. Prepared jointly by the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH) and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the 7th edition promotes the transformation of education, practice and leadership for WHNP’s as full partners within  a complex and evolving health care environment, consistent with the  recommendations set forth in the Institute of Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health published in 2010. The WHNP Guidelines document defines the role of the WHNP, identifies practice competencies, and guides educators in the development of nurse practitioner (NP) educational programs in women’s health within the framework of the Consensus Model for APRN Regulation: Licensure, Accreditation, Certification, and Education (LACE), and in alignment with current national documents regarding nurse practitioner education and practice. The WHNP Guidelines include a strong emphasis on the WHNP as a primary care provider, while recognizing WHNP expertise in providing specialty care for women.  Within this framework, the WHNP provides: 

• A lifespan approach to women’s health care from  menarche through senescence;
• Primary care to women;
• Men’s sexual and reproductive health care;
• A gender-focused approach to health concerns affecting women;
• Specialty care in women’s health, such as gynecology-oncology; urogynecology, reproductive endocrinology, and high risk pregnancy;
• Expertise in gynecologic office- based procedures;
• Consultation to health care colleagues in areas of women’s health and men’s sexual health; and,
• Other services to improve health outcomes, reduce health disparities, and enhance the quality and efficiency women's healthcare service delivery.

This presentation will include an overview of the WHNP Guidelines update process, which occurred over a period of almost two years, and included review and incorporation of relevent nationally recognized documents and guidance on NP education, input from NCC certified WHNPs, review by a WHNP panel, and review by a separate panel of NPs from other population foci.  The result is a comprehensive approach to support WHNP education and practice.