328 UROLOGIC NURSING / November-December 2011 / Volume 31 Number 6 The role of the nurse practitioner (NP) continues to expand into the care of specialty populations. This article presents results of a survey that allowed NPs who self-identified as working specifically with people diagnosed with urologic conditions to describe their clinical role. The purpose of identifying NP-specific clinical tasks was to provide evidence to be used in revising the urology specialty certification examination for NPs. © 2011 Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates Urologic Nursing, pp. 328, 330-336. Key Words: Nurse practitioner, urology, certification, nurse practitioner role, job description. T here are over 140,000 nurse practitioners (NPs) in the United States (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners [AANP], 2011), a profession that is expect- ed to grow. In addition to an increased number of NPs, the role of the NP is expected to expand in response to the pro- posed health care reform. In the future, the expanded role of the NP may provide one method to increase access to a variety of health care services for tradition- ally underserved populations in diverse locations. This anticipated role expan- sion may not be limited to tradi- tional generalist services. As the physician population ages, and their number of hours worked per week decreases (Loughlin, 2011; Staiger, Auerbach, & Buerhaus, 2010), there will be greater opportunity for NPs with appropriate training to fill gaps in service. Consistent with role A Survey Evaluating the Current Role of the Nurse Practitioner in Urology Susanne A. Quallich Susanne A. Quallich, ANP-BC, NP-C, CUNP, is a Nurse Practitioner, Division of Sexual and Reproductive Health, Depart- ment of Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and a member of the Urologic Nursing Editorial Board. Acknowledgments: The author wishes to thank the Center for Nursing Education and Testing (C-NET), and especially Margery Garbin, PhD, RN, and Elaine Zimbler, MA, RN, for their support during the data collec- tion process. The author would also like to acknowledge Peggy Ward-Smith, PhD, RN, for her suggestions regarding changes to the content. Purpose To allow nurse practitioners (NPs) employed in urologic health care settings to self-describe their clinical role as it per- tains to the diagnosis and treatment of urologic conditions. Methods Data were collected from a conven- ience sample of NPs working in urologic health care settings. A study-specific sur- vey was used to allow each NP participant to describe the clinical tasks performed as a part of their professional responsibil- ities. Results Study results may be extrapolated to the larger population of NPs, and reveal a wide range of roles and functions per- formed daily by NPs employed in urologic specialty areas. Despite reports that many activities assessed were performed by a small number of respondents, these activities had high importance to the NP role. Discussion While the limited sample size prevents generalizability, results of this survey demonstrated the diverse roles NPs have in providing care to those with urologic conditions. This reflects the ability of the NP to combine and provide both nursing and medical interventions. Level of Evidence – VI (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2011) Research expansions that have occurred with the primary care NP role, there has been expansion of NPs into subspecialty areas (AANP, 2010a; Hoffman, Tasota, Zullo, Scharfenberg, & Donahoe, 2005; Resneck & Kimball, 2008). Anec- dotal reports hypothesize that the present NP role within urological settings has occurred. Based on these reports, a survey was devel- oped to describe the varied prac- tice settings, tasks, and skills in which NPs working in the urolog- ic setting are employed. Results of this survey provide evidence describing these phenomena. continued on page 330