LAUSR

The current health care environment focuses on cost containment, value-based purchasing, and continuity of care. Practice-based educators, called nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners, are challenged tomeet the needs for interprofessional and nursing continuing education in this complex environment. As health care organizations seek to control costs, education departments are often subject to reduction in forces and are tasked with demonstrating a return on investment for their activities. In this environment, a greater understanding of the impact of the role of NPDpractitioners on organizational outcomes is critical. To date, no evidence is found that indicates the optimal number of NPD practitioners for an organization based on numbers of staff or beds. To better understand the value of NPD roles, a research study examined variables related to organizational structure, NPD practitioners’ characteristics, and the organizational outcomes.