Neonatal nurse practitioners: identity as advanced practice nurses.
OBJECTIVE
To define how neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs) perceive their identity as advanced practice nurses.


METHODS
Non-experimental descriptive and correlational survey.


METHODS
Nationwide random sample drawn from NNPs certified by the National Certification Corporation.


METHODS
Two hundred fifty-eight neonatal nurse practitioners practicing in neonatal intensive-care units across the United States.


METHODS
Neonatal Nurse Practitioners indicated on a visual analogue scale at which point their philosophy of practice fell on a continuum from nursing to medicine and specified on a 5-point bipolar Likert scale how various role socialization factors influenced their identity.


RESULTS
The NNPs predominantly were certificate-prepared and aligned themselves with a medical philosophy. Those NNPs who were master's-prepared (p < .01), precepted by another NNP (p < .05), espoused a philosophy of nursing (p < .001), belonged to a professional nursing organization (p < .05), and had an NNP role model (p < .001) were more likely to have a strong nursing identity (95% confidence interval).


CONCLUSIONS
The issues of role differentiation, socialization, and identity of advanced practice nurses in tertiary care need further exploration. These data support the American Nurses' Association mandate of graduate nursing education for advanced nurse practitioners.
Beal
J A
JA
Simmons College Graduate School for Health Studies, Boston, MA, USA.
Maguire
D
D
Carr
R
R
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D017283:Neonatal Nursing; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D012380:Role; D012933:Social Identification; D012951:Socialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States