Literature Review

A scoping review of nurse practitioner workforce data: Part two of a four-part series on critical topics identified by the 2015 Research Agenda Roundtable

Barnes, Hilary PhD, APRN (Assistant Professor)¹; Novosel, Lorraine M. PhD, CRNP, AGPCNP-BC (Assistant Professor)²

¹University of Delaware, School of Nursing, Newark, Delaware,

²Department of Health Promotion & Development, University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Correspondence: Hilary Barnes, PhD, APRN, University of Delaware, School of Nursing, 367 McDowell Hall, Newark, DE 19716. Tel: 302-831-3327; Fax: 302-831-2382; E-mail: [email protected]

Competing interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's Web site (www.jaanp.com).

Authors' contributions: H. Barnes and L. M. Novosel developed the research project, purpose/aims, and search strategies. H. Barnes conducted the database searches, initial article screening, detailed article review, and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. L. M. Novosel conducted the detailed article review and developed the table, figure, and appendix. Both authors contributed to revisions of the manuscript for final submission.

Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners 30(12):p 685-695, December 2018. | DOI: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000000069

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Abstract

Background and purpose:

There is no single comprehensive data source for conducting nurse practitioner (NP)-focused workforce and outcomes research. The 2015 Research Agenda Roundtable of the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners supports the development of a national NP data source. A scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of data being used in NP-focused research and to identify key issues relevant to making progress toward a national NP database.

Methods:

PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE were searched for English-language articles published within the past 10 years (2007–2017). Twenty-one articles were included for review and categorized into three themes: 1) NP Workforce Data Collection and Availability; 2) Using Data to Identify NPs; and 3) Minimum Data Sets and Key Variables.

Conclusions:

General consensus among workforce experts suggests that rich sources of NP data exist. However, challenges include a lack of a national data source for studying the NP workforce and outcomes; the inability to identify individual NP providers within existing data; and variations in how different sources of data are collected.

Implications for practice:

Improved NP workforce data collection is vital for workforce planning and forecasting and has implications for outcomes research and NP workforce distribution and employment.