January 07, 2021 –
The American Pediatric Surgical Nurses Association Inc. (APSNA) recently published the first ever affirmation of Pediatric Surgical Nurse Practitioner (NP) competencies. This publication was approved by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors. The affirmation provides a formal review process for identifying the specific knowledge, skills, abilities, accountability, and judgment deemed important for professional practice success, interprofessional collaborative practice and team success, and achievement of defined outcomes.
The component is designed to address the needs of an emerging specialty or focus of practice that has begun developing characteristics of practice, has no or few formalized competencies, and has few members, which is the reason that APSNA and its pediatric surgical NPs were eager to form a workgroup to develop these. A national committee, led by Dr. Raquel Pasarón as Chair, produced the competencies which would apply to any Pediatric Surgery NP, whether at entry level to the NP role; the specialty; or as a resource for NP metrics for outcomes assessment. This is the first time that a document such as this has been made available for NPs working in pediatric surgery.