APGAP's Statement Regarding Post-Graduate Training of Nurse Practitioners

The Association of Post-Graduate APRN Programs (APGAP) is a national advocacy organization that serves to promote the excellence of postgraduate education and optimized practice of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). Nurse Practitioners are APRN clinicians that work independently and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to coordinate and transform the healthcare delivery by improving patient access and quality care. 

 APGAP supports and advocates for the specialized training of APRNs through operating Nurse Practitioner (NP) Fellowship and Residency programs. The use of the terms "NP Fellowship", "NP Residency", "NP Fellow" or "NP Resident" for these purposes are intended to denote the formalized position and title within the institution pursuing a focused area of advanced practice training under a contracted amount of time. The goals of this designated training are to work in highly effective teams to enhance the skill and confidence of Nurse Practitioners entering specialized medical environments and to promote patient-centered quality outcomes. Further, in a manner pursuant of interprofessional synergy and competency required by both nursing and medical postgraduate education, NP Fellows/Residents learn to navigate the larger construct of health care systems alongside physician learners, awareness of their role and resource availability and cultivate a climate of mutual respect for their interprofessional peers. Developing interprofessional competency is critical for the success of health care delivery teams of the future.

 Hospital systems and medical institutions should have the ability to create and advertise structured postgraduate training programs for all interdisciplinary providers of care to improve the quality and delivery of care and resource allocation as they see necessary, and not under the direction of one provider group. To restrict this decision to physician teams would potentially impede the mission of that medical institution and its healthcare workforce to meet the diverse health care needs of its community.

APGAP Board of Directors

Heather Meissen, MSN, ACNP, Past-President
Britney Broyhill, DNP, ACNP-BC, Immediate Past-President
Tamra Langley, MSN, AGACNP-BC, President
Lacey Buckler, DNP, ACNP-BC, President-Elect
Deborah Stein, ACNP-BC, CCRN, Treasurer
Angela Forbes, Education Chair
Dana Williams, MSN, ACNP-BC, Education Committee Chair-Elect
Camille Petraitis Valente, DNP, FNP-BC, Communications/Social Media Chair
Anne Vail, DNP, AGNP-C, Communications/Social Media Chair Elect
Dayna Morgan, MSN, FNP, Membership Chair
Michelle Alland, MSN, FNP-C, AACC, Membership Chair Elect