The following article is part of conference coverage from the 2019 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting (AANP 2019) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Clinical Advisor’s staff will be reporting breaking news associated with research conducted by leading nurse practitioners. Check back for the latest news from AANP 2019.

Postgraduate fellowship training significantly improves nurse practitioner’s (NP’s) satisfaction with professional growth, autonomy, collegiality, and interaction, according to research presented at the 2019 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting, held June 18 to 23 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Tom Bush, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, associate professor and assistant dean at the School of Nursing and Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sought to determine the impact of postgraduate education among NPs by asking the question, “Is there a difference in job satisfaction between NPs who have completed postgraduate fellowship education and those who have not participated in formal postgraduate education?”

The Misener Nurse Practitioner job scale was administered to 2 groups of NPs: those who had completed a postgraduate fellowship (n=80) and those who had not (n=174). A total of 68.8% of NPs who had completed postgraduate education reported feeling satisfied or very satisfied in their current job role, and 50.5% of NPs who had not completed postgraduate education reported feeling satisfied or very satisfied.

NPs who had completed postgraduate education had higher mean scores of job satisfaction on factors such as collegiality, autonomy, patient interaction, growth, time management, and benefits compared with NPs who had not received postgraduate education. NPs who had >3 years of postgraduate education had a higher job satisfaction rate than those who had ≤3 years of postgraduate education. Statistically insignificant results were found on job satisfaction rates when comparing NPs who worked in states with full practice regulation vs states with restricted practice regulation.

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Reference

Bush T. Postgraduate NP education: impact on job satisfaction. Presented at: 2019 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting; June 18-23, 2019; Indianapolis, IN.