Nurse practitioners in academic nurse managed centres: a new and emergent opportunity for Australian nurses

Nursing traditionally has split the career paths of practice, teaching and research. This has limited utility in a healthcare world that is rapidly changing in terms of clinical practice and institutional structures. Academics to be relevant need to remain professionally engaged. Faculty practice is one way for Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner academics to do this. The recent inclusion of Nurse Practitioners as providers in the federally funded Medical Benefits Scheme and the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme has afforded a context of do ability. The American experience of integrating Nurse Practitioner practice into academia took the form of faculty practice within an Academic Nurse Managed Centre model. The establishment of such a model was innovative, yet the majority of Academic Nurse Managed Centres experienced significant difficulties in management and self sustainability. This paper explores faculty practice in Australia and lessons learned from the international literature to ground the project of Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner faculty practice.