This month, two pediatric nursing organizations will release a new Pediatric Nursing Scope and Standards document at each of their respective annual conferences: the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) in Nashville, Tenn., and the Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN) in Denver, Colo. The document is the result of a collaborative effort that began in 2004 between NAPNAP, SPN, and the American Nurses Association.
NAPNAP and SPN have very similar mission statements. NAPNAP's mission is to promote optimal health for children and their families through leadership, practice, advocacy, education, and research.1 Likewise, SPN strives to promote excellence in nursing care of children and their families through support of its members' clinical practice, education, research, and advocacy.2
Standard Categories
Practice standards should be based on scientific evidence and not solely on the traditional way of doing things. The new scope and standards describes nursing competencies for 16 standards which can each be measured and evaluated. The standards include basic areas in nursing practice: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. A few standards represent accountability: quality of practice, ethics, and research. And several standards reflect the expanded responsibility of nurses in basic and advanced practice: collegiality, professional practice evaluation, and resource utilization. It is highly probable that the quality of care provided by nurses meeting these competencies will improve.
This month's CE article, "Current Acceptance of the HPV Vaccine," focuses on a pediatric issue. Authors Miller, Wilson, and Waldrop-all pediatric nurse practitioners-illustrate the intertwining of competencies from several standards of nursing practice in the care of children and their families. They present the scientific evidence tempered by ethical considerations for parental, patient, and healthcare provider acceptance of Gardasil, a vaccine plagued by controversy since its release. NAPNAP and SPN recommend the scope and standards for use by clinicians, educators, regulators, legislators, and the public.
A Cohesive Plan
NPs in many states are required to utilize protocols to provide healthcare services. The clinical protocol is one of three different types of evidence available for use; the level depends on how specific the NP must be in a practice setting. Three levels of instruction have been defined: a recommendation advises you to "do or do not do this;" a guideline suggests that you "include this in the 'doing;'" and a protocol directs you to "do it this way."3This and it refer to a provider's action. NPs will continue to look to their specialty organizations for scope and standards of practice that are unique to them and from which they can derive clinical protocols.
NAPNAP and SPN are to be congratulated for working together to create a document that is comprehensive, evidence-based, and useful for pediatric nurses of all levels and across diverse settings. After all, broad and specialty nursing organizations should not be in competition but in collaboration to advance and ensure the competence of providers and to improve the quality of care for general or targeted patient populations.
Jamesetta Newland, APRN, BC, FNP, FAANP, FNAP, PhD, Editor-in-Chief
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