The Role of the Nurse Practitioner in Military Deployment

What is the role of the military nurse practitioner in deployment Nurse practitioners are not currently deployed for their ability to fulfill the role of a primary health care provider for which they are educated, but instead are deployed as medical-surgical nursing staffadministrators. The first class of military family nurse practitioners will graduate from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in May of 1996. While the role of this new group of professionals is not precisely defined, education within a Deparment of Defense institution, structured for the military services, requires definition in the area of the medical readiness role--a unique role for the military nurse practitioner. The exploration and description of the deployment role of the nurse practitioner has been accomplished in this study through a qualitative, descriptive research methodology, to include the nature of patient care provided in the field, the actual role fulfilled by nurse practitioners that have deployed, and their perceived degree of preparedness, performance, and role congruence as a result of medical-readiness training and role expectation. A purposeful sample of ten military nurse practitioners were interviewed, the data was analyzed using the constant comparative method and reported in an attempt to describe the most effective utilization of the military nurse practitioner during deployment and to make recommendations regarding the readiness training of the nurse practitioner.