Have you ever attended the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD) Aspire Convention? When you returned home, how did you describe the energy and connectedness you felt being with 1000 other nursing professional development practitioners (NPDPs)? You were with “your people” and could relate to day-by-day responsibilities as well as the challenges and limitations. You cheered each other’s successes, lifted each other up, and empathized shared frustrations. Imagine spreading that energy and increasing awareness to people outside that arena!
One of my passions is doing just that—advocating for NPDPs and our specialty. An advocate, according to Merriam-Webster (2025), is “one who supports or promotes the interests of a cause or group.” Advocacy involves identifying, embracing, and promoting solutions to solve problems and improve conditions for individuals, groups or society as a whole (AACN, 2019). NPDPs do this by the very nature of our scope and standards of practice. Not only is advocacy one of our roles as defined in the fourth edition of Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022), the very definition of advocacy follows the nursing process—and we are experts at that!
Why should people know what we do? Everyone from the C-suite to the general public should recognize that we do more than teach new nurses to be able to function at the bedside. Our roles travel beyond “staff development” with competency and orientation. We have specific academic preparation, training, and competencies to meet. We have specialty certification opportunities that validate the specialist designation. Thanks to Dr. Mary Harper, and many others, we have a professional NPD Practice Model that is evidence-based, giving us a path to follow, points to promote, and specific criteria to meet.
I make promoting the specialty part of my daily work. First and foremost (and easiest), I use the correct titles for my colleagues and myself: nursing professional development practitioner or specialist. While educational requirements differ by employer, by definition NPD practitioners have a minimum of a baccalaureate degree in nursing, while NPD specialists require a minimum of a graduate degree in nursing (or a related field) and certification in NPD (Harper & Maloney, 2022). Why use the correct title? Because that title is what I am, just like my name is Melanie. Calling myself a “staff development instructor” or “clinical educator” does not encompass all that I do and all that I can do. Perhaps your institution or facility uses a title other than NPD practitioner—you can advocate to change your title. Our department did. There are very few steps, not necessarily easy or quick, but with a professionally satisfying reward.
The main things to accomplish prior to approaching human resources requesting a title change are:
- Write a job description integrating the Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice with your current position description.
- Educate the colleagues in your department (whether centralized or decentralized) about the Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice and why a title change is appropriate and important.
- Encourage colleagues to use the title when introducing themselves.
- Approach other leaders in the organization and explain that you are working to update your title with the one approved by your professional organization and ask that they use that title when referring to you, your colleagues or department.
- Approach the CNO, ACNO, and others in upper leadership giving them the same information—that you are working to update your title—and also provide them with the position descriptions to review for approval and support before approaching HR.
- Finally, take the description with a list of your supporters to HR and ask that the position descriptions be updated to reflect current standards of practice and that your titles be updated to reflect those changes.
These steps are meant to be a starting point; you will need to evaluate your organization’s culture and incorporate people and processes appropriate to that. I was on the periphery of the change at our organization, and I know our department leader was persistent, provided compelling evidence and cultivated many professional relationships to obtain leadership endorsement. This process can take a long time to earn the buy in and support, perhaps even from your co-workers. Persevere and look to NPDPs outside your organization for support.
Speaking of NPDPs outside your organization, another way to advocate for our specialty is to encourage membership in our specialty association—the one that promulgates the standards, promotes certification, provides resources and more. ANPD is that organization. Just as there is an association for med-surg, critical care, emergency room, operating room, and other nursing practice areas, ANPD is our “mothership” to guide and support us as we grow in our specialty.
Along those same lines, I have joined a local affiliate of ANPD to network and support colleagues at a local level, and I encourage others to do this as well. You can also start your own. There is strength in numbers and gathering with others who are “our people” assures each of us that we are not alone with the practice issues, regulatory requirements, and financial restrictions imposed on our practices. We can bounce ideas off of each other and share what works and critique what doesn’t.
Once you have accomplished these steps, you can advocate on a larger scale. Run for an office in your local affiliate or lead your department (formally or informally). Apply for positions on national committees or workgroups. Run for a seat on the board of ANPD. Follow the Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice using the NPD Practice Model to inform your path and decisions. Lead by example, show what an NPDP is and does. Actions speak louder than words, although you also need words to reinforce your actions.
Not interested in formally leading? It’s not for everyone. You can still be an impactful advocate by spreading the news of your (or your department’s) accomplishments. Submit an abstract for a poster or podium presentation at a local, regional, or national conference. Presenting at ANPD’s annual convention is great, but think of how much fun it would be to present at a conference with a different focus and tie in NPD practice—that’s advocating. You get to explain who you are and what you do then watch the light bulb moment when the attendees look at you and say, “Oh! You are the staff development/educator/instructor/whatever title. You did all that? WOW!”
These are just a few ideas. As a wise NPD specialist (could it have been Gregory J. Durkin, MEd, RN, NPDA-BC?) once said, and this is definitely a paraphrase, “Promote yourself, because who else will promote you?” That sentiment extends to our NPD specialty.
References
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ANPD.
Melanie M. Morris, MBA, BSN, RN, CCRN, NPD-BC
Nursing Operations Manager and NPD Specialist
Melanie M. Morris received her degrees from the University of Akron and spent over 30 years of her career at Cleveland Clinic Akron General—mostly off-shift in critical care then in nursing professional development (NPD). She retired in 2019 and works per diem as a nursing operations manager. She considers herself an NPD specialist with a critical care and leadership focus from the off-shift perspective. She is active in local, regional and national professional organizations with a passion for mentoring and advocating for NPD.