Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are independent healthcare professionals who provide primary and specialized care. In our province, they work in clinics, hospitals, community health centres, and nursing homes in both urban and rural settings. In some communities, NPs may be the only available medical professional.
Yet many of our NP members have expressed that they feel stuck between the world of a physician they aren’t and Registered Nurse (RN) that they once were.
As our province’s healthcare system continues to struggle, it’s important to highlight the value and unique role that NPs hold. It’s time to educate the public on the role of NPs to bring clarity to their scope of practice and professional identity. This is why we created the ‘There’s an NP for that’ campaign.
Co-created with NPs
This campaign was shaped by the feedback, frustration, insight, and passion of NPs. We engaged with NPs all over Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure that the messages and visuals reflect how they’d like to be represented.
“We’ve heard from so many of our NP members that they feel unseen, unheard, and undervalued even though they’re often on the frontlines providing critical care,” says Yvette Coffey, RNUNL President. “We created this campaign to bring visibility to their professorial identity and give the public a clear picture of just how essential NPs are.”
We’ll share the campaign in phases, starting July 30. In the first phase, we’ll focus on public education on the scope of practice and capabilities of NPs. The second phase will be a more peer-to-peer to showcase how NPs take a holistic approach to care. The third and final phase will give NPs a platform to rebuild their identity and express nuances of their role through storytelling.
Building on past successes
‘There’s an NP for that’ builds on decades of action and advocacy by our union. More specifically, the campaign expands the focus of our Clarity Project. Over the years, we’ve worked to ensure Registered Nurses receive the visibility and recognition they deserve. Now, we are reinforcing NPs’ equally vital contributions to healthcare and emphasizing their roles without comparisons to RNs or physicians.
Where to find the campaign
Npforthat.ca is the campaign’s main platform. The webpage contains information and calls-to-action for the public to learn from and interact with. The ads and other campaign content will also be available on RNUNL’s social channels, InTouch newsletter, local digital media, radio stations, billboards and other placements across the province.
How to get involved
The best way to be part of the action is to help amplify the campaign’s reach. The more people that know about it, the better. We encourage you to reshare posts on your social media channels, to take photos of, or with ads, you see in public and share it with your followers. You can also get involved by having conversations about NPs’ scope of practice with people in your social circles and communities.