The registered nurse as a first assistant: the "downunder" experience.
In 1996, Bernadette Brennan, RN, was awarded a fellowship from the Australian Confederation of Operating Room Nurses (now known as the Australian College of Operating Room Nurses Ltd.) to travel to the United States to study the role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner, with an emphasis on the role of the registered nurse first assistant (RNFA). As part of this study, she undertook an RNFA course at Delaware County Community College. This article provides a description of her work to develop an educational program for RNFAs in Australia. Because of the size of the country and the many rural areas needing to be served, her challenge was to devise an accessible program that was also academically rigorous. Her trials as well as her triumphs are presented here.
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