The Consortium has continued to meet during the past year with consistent representation from NONPF, AFPNP, NCBPNP/N, AACN, ANCC, AANP, NCC, and NPWHAC. In the fall the group was pleased to distribute its White Paper, a consensus statement of issues pertinent to past and present accreditation of Nurse Practitioner Programs. This document was sent to the Deans of all Schools of Nursing in the United States as well as other key constituent groups. I hope that all of you have had a chance to review this document. It reviews many of the issues which we first discussed last year at our annual AFPNP meeting and which I again reported on in the last newsletter. As you will recall, consensus exists among these core nursing education and certification groups that the current lack of scrutiny paid to specific nurse practitioner content within individual programs by the existing accreditation organizations (CCNE and NLNAC) is a problem. While AFPNP has long established guidelines which have directed the review process of pediatric nurse practitioner programs by NCBPNP/N, this level of scrutiny is lacking in nearly all other NP review programs at this time with the exception of Women's Health NP's. A uniform accreditation process which specifically evaluates the quality of nurse practitioner academic programs is needed. If such a process were in place, it would make the level of review currently undertaken by NCBPNP/N unnecessary. No one is interested in adding additional layers of review, but rather assuring quality in nurse practitioner education in a reliable, non-duplicitous process. With this goal in mind, the Consortium approached both CCNE and NLNAC with a request to begin studying their accreditation processes better in order to examine how realistic it would be to obtain the level of information required during their currently scheduled site visits. Both organizations were open to this request and this spring members of the Consortium will accompany site visitors to select schools that are agreeable to this additional pilot "observation visitor." The observation visitor from the Consortium will not participate in the official process in any way. The purpose will be to review the accreditation process as it is currently structured to see if the accreditors gather adequate information about the NP tracts to make a decision based on the Task Force Criteria. The Consortium will meet again in May and will review the results of these pilot visits. Members of AFPNP are asked to do two things. One is to review The White Paper so that you are familiar with it. The second is to support and promote the work of this group. The most effective step would be a letter to CCNE and NLNAC in support of this document and this important initiative. Please take this step to assure the quality of nurse practitioner education in this country through a seamless accreditation process that brings a new level of scrutiny to nurse practitioner programs by both CCNE or NLNAC. We have been advised that these two groups need to hear from their constituents that this is an important issue to them!

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