Exploring the Potential Contribution of Actor-Network Theory in Nursing Using the Integration of Nurse Practitioners as an Exemplar

Abstract

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are clinically effective and safe. They positively influence patient outcomes, and they increase access to care while decreasing health care costs. Despite these significant benefits, NPs can seldom practice to their full scope and often experience interprofessional tensions. The supposed lack of clarity around NPs’ role is often cited as a barrier to seamless integration, despite clear legal and professional delineation. We suggest other factors are at play within the Canadian health care system that explain why, after almost four decades, NPs’ full involvement as equal health care partners and their job satisfaction remain modest at best. New, critical frameworks are needed to uncover the various contingencies that mediate their integration process. This paper explores how Actor-Network Theory (ANT) can provide such a framework to analyze contemporary issues in advanced nursing practice. ANT’s main concepts are explored along with their applicability to an examination of NPs’ integration in the Canadian health care system.