Problem: The National Panel for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Competencies has defined seven domains of acute care nurse practitioner competencies. Since 2004, the complexity of healthcare delivery has rapidly progressed to the point that increasingly advanced practice nurses (APNs) are expected to provide acute care healthcare delivery, despite their level of specialty certification. A systematic review of the literature documents high-quality, cost-effective care when APNs are utilized to alleviate the nursing shortage in the acute care setting. Purpose and Scope: The purpose of this Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) project was to describe the level of perceived acute care competency in APNs before and after their participation in an online educational intervention based on the seven domains of acute care nurse practitioner competencies. Using descriptive-interventional methodology, the study variable of perceived acute care competency was tested in participants before and after an online educational intervention using a tool developed for the scope of the investigation by Laffoon and Davidson. The instrumentation included a 22-item 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire with 3 subscales assessing comfort, competence, and confidence in APN delivery of acute care. Goal and Objectives: The goal of the project was to successfully implement an online teaching intervention for APNs regarding the seven domains of acute care nurse practitioner competencies. The objectives were: (a) to describe aggregate demographic characteristics of the APN participants, (b) to describe APN pre-intervention perceptions of acute care competency, (c) to describe APN post-intervention perceptions of acute care competency, and (d) to describe APN perceptions of acute care competency before and after participation in an online teaching intervention regarding the seven domains of acute care nurse practitioner competencies. Plan and Evaluation: Phase One: Conduct a literary needs assessment using a published evidence-based critique template. Phase Two: Design an online teaching intervention using the EBP approach. Phase Three: Implement an online teaching intervention for a projected sample of APN participants in a national online forum listserve. Phase Four: Evaluate the level of APN perceived acute care competency before and after APN participation in the online teaching intervention regarding the seven domains of acute care nurse practitioner competencies. Outcomes and Results: Pre-intervention and post-intervention measures revealed a modest increase in ANP perceived knowledge from an aggregate score of 5.76 at pre-test to an aggregate score of 7.54 at post-test. Moreover, scaled reliability estimates based on internal consistency for the pre-intervention testing achieved significance, while the post-intervention testing also achieved significance with regard to the tool’s performance in this interventional design.
