EXPERIENCES OF THE LACK OF ADVANCED PRACTICE REGULATION ON ADVANCED NURSE PRACTITIONERS IN THE URGENT TREATMENT CENTRE

Currently, advanced nursing practice is not regulated in the UK, which means there is no standardised agreement on what constitutes this type of role or which prior learning experiences and academic levels are necessary to undertake it. This thesis examines the experiences of Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) working in the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) setting without professional regulation. A qualitative methodology was chosen to gain insight into participants' lived experiences to gain first-hand accounts of their experiences. Previous research in this area has offered valuable data that highlights a variety of common issues regarding the lack of regulation in advanced nursing practice, including title and role inconsistencies and variations in academic preparation. This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study provides a detailed and in-depth investigation to uncover and understand the sense-making perspectives impacting ANPs working in the UTC environment without any professional regulation and builds on existing knowledge. Interviews were conducted with twelve ANPs and transcripts were analysed in accordance with IPA procedures. Two superordinate themes were developed from the analysis, and seven subordinate themes were identified. The discussion focuses on understanding the impact on ANPs of working without regulation, the need for consistency in practice, and why regulation is essential, in line with superordinate themes of ‘The battle of belonging’ and ‘Survival – staying afloat’. Insight gathered from this study supports the need for ANP regulation based on the deeply personal accounts of ANPs and how they make sense – individually and collectively – of how the lack of regulation impacts their role.