Strategies to Develop a Korean-Contextualized Oncology Nurse Practitioner Program;Comparative Program Evaluation between Korea and the United States

한국적 종양 전문간호사 교육과정의 발전 전략;미국 교과 과정과의 비교분석

Purpose: With accumulated necessity to develop Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) in Korea, various types of Nurse Practitioner (NP) programs have been recently developed. Unlike the origin of the NP programs in the U.S., in which the lack of primary health care provider preceded the creation of NP education, NP programs in Korea are currently in an early stage in which the scope of practice and educational boundaries are still evolving. Just imitating American models may result in culturally inappropriate and practically non-feasible APN programs in Korea. This article was aimed to evaluate the top-ranked Oncology NP (ONP) programs in U.S. with those in Korea. Method: Using the Donabedian paradigm, the educational structure, process, and outcome were compared and contrasted between two countries. Results: The findings of this paper demonstrated that many aspects of structure of the Korean program are similar to those of the Americans with minor differences. Three strategies for future development of ONP program in Korea are suggested. Conclusion: Practical and feasible scope of practice for ONP in Korea should be determined. It needs to embrace every aspects of cancer experience. Also, nursing-oriented and culturally competent practice needs to be identified and incorporated into the ONP practice.