The future of graduate education in nursing: Scholarship, the health of communities, and health care reform

The authors critically examine the urgent needs posed by national health care reform and the forces impinging on the nursing profession to prepare nurse practitioners to meet these needs. With references to other struggles in nursing's professional history, the authors caution against exclusive investment in the nurse practitioner role as the discipline's hope for long overdue recognition of nursing's value to society. They argue that with health care reform, nurses have the chance to make graduate nursing education more responsive to the actual health needs of the populace and more relevant for practice in communities. The actions advocated include reflecting carefully on the articulation of nurse practitioner roles with others in the discipline, taking a partisan stand with vulnerable groups, developing substantive expertise in community-based practice and research, applying an understanding of the broader environmental context of health, and committing as a discipline to practice and scholarship that really makes a difference in the health of the public.