UNC Orthopaedics Announces Ortho NP Fellowship

In an effort to address workforce barriers that limit access to musculoskeletal care and support nurse practitioner transition to practice, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Orthopaedic Surgery created a two year fellowship program for nurse practitioners interested in a career in orthopaedics. The Ortho NP Fellowship program offers intensive clinical experience in all orthopaedic subspecialties with an emphasis on sports medicine. Program competencies include:

• Demonstration of advanced orthopaedic nursing practice across the lifespan
• Application of musculoskeletal care in a variety of settings (community, acute/subacute, office practice, and rehabilitation).
• Synthesis of knowledge from the best available evidence, tempered with clinical experience, to provide patient centered care
• Collaboration with client, family and other health care clinicians to promote musculoskeletal health and improve patient outcomes
• Participation in organization and leadership management within health care system
  Functioning as a practice specialist/consultant in collaborative knowledge-generation and promotion of research findings to advance the nurse practitioner role in musculoskeletal care
• Development and implementation of an application-oriented quality assurance or practice improvement project suitable for publication

Fellowship candidates must have earned a graduate degree in nursing and hold national certification as a family nurse practitioner. The program includes weekly post op conferences, monthly grand rounds and morbidity & mortality conferences. The core curriculum includes all orthopaedic subspecialties with opportunities for basic science research and musculoskeletal seminars. Fellows are faculty members of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and are paid a training salary. Upon completion of the program, fellows receive a certificate from the University of North Carolina School Of Medicine and are eligible for certification as an orthopaedic nurse practitioner through the Orthopaedic Nurses Certification Board.

Nurse practitioners have a long history of providing safe, high quality healthcare and are gaining additional education and skills to meet the growing healthcare needs of our nation. Transition to practice programs are helping them meet those needs in a variety of settings. Nurse practitioners will continue to play a critical role as team based practice models strive to offer improved access to high value, patient centered care.