Advanced Nurse Practitioners Working In Aesthetic Medicine

The role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) is constantly evolving and many ANPs work like doctors, in that they assess, diagnose, prescribe medication and treat patients; surely it is now time for the NMC register to provide a distinction between newly qualified nurses and an ANP?

In late 2010 the Department of Health (DH) released a position statement on advanced practice in nursing. There have been calls from both the public and the nursing profession to regulate advanced nurse practitioners and for the NMC to have a separate register for Advanced Nurse Practitioners. However, following a major paper being presented to parliament last month it seems to be increasingly unlikely that this will occur. 

Identifying true advanced nurse practitioners

Currently, a number of nurses are using the title ‘nurse practitioner’ or ‘advanced nurse practitioner’ without undertaking the appropriate level of further education to develop the knowledge and competence that are necessary to work safely, efficiently and effectively at this advanced level of practice. 

The expectation from the DH statement is that nurses working at an advanced level will have extensive clinical/practice experience and have completed a degree at the Master’s level or its equivalent.

The benchmark for advanced-level nursing provided by the DH position statement is generic in that it applies to all clinical nurses working at an advanced level regardless of area of practice, setting or client group. It describes a level of practice, not speciality or role that should be evident as being beyond that of first-level registration.

Aesthetic Medicine

In the future, the NMC http://www.nmc-uk.org/ may have plans to consider ANP regulation as part of its work on revalidation. I would be interested to hear from advanced nurse practitioners working within Aesthetic Medicine (AM). 

Providing a list of ANP http://www.consultingroom.com/ may be a useful initiative for the public in the assistance of checking an ANP’s credentials. 

Further information on advanced nurse practitioner programmes can be accessed from the Association of Advanced Nursing Practice Educators website http://www.aanpe.org/