Barriers encountered when exploring nurse practitioner postgraduate training programs

With the increasing complexity of today's patients, the demand for nurse practitioner (NP) postgraduate training programs is growing. At least 70 such programs exist, yet information about these programs is limited. A sample of 52 program websites were investigated for information of importance to NPs, employers, and NP faculty. Of the postgraduate training program websites studied, information regarding at least one of the elements investigated was absent from the program website. This lack of information availability makes exploring, selecting, or recommending a postgraduate training program difficult. As the number of programs and the number of graduating NP students continue to grow, the existence and consistency of information regarding new and existing programs will be increasingly important for the accuracy of prospective trainee exploration of such programs and for researchers interested in gathering consistent data.