First NP Postgraduate Residency
ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners reported on the first postgraduate residency program for NPs in its February issue.
The country's first postgraduate NP residency program began last fall, after several years of planning. Margaret Flinter, NP, first began writing articles about the topic in 2005 and has since worked to create a 12-month residency for family nurse practitioner graduates. Flinter is the vice president and clinical director of Community Health Center (CHC), one of the largest federally qualified health centers in the nation. She is also director of the Weitzman Center, the research and development arm of the CHC organization.
"I first began to focus my attention on the need for a residency program, particularly for family nurse practitioners committed to community health centers as a practice site, because of the challenging clinical practice environment, special and vulnerable populations and extraordinarily diverse populations," she told ADVANCE. "The first months of our program have been wonderful, and it is my hope that it will be replicated elsewhere."
The inaugural four residents are based in two of CHC's primary care sites, in the cities of New Britain and Meriden, Conn. The residency program was designed for newly graduated, certified family nurse practitioners who intend to practice in the complex environment of the more than 1,000 community health centers across the country. The residency is quite structured: In addition to carrying their own panel of patients, the residents have didactic sessions and are assigned to intensive clinical rotations in areas such as health care for the homeless, orthopedics, behavioral health, HIV and hepatitis care, and geriatrics.
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