Recognizing nurse practitioners: Value beyond measure.

Abstract

Background: Nurses' contributions are central to health care but are often shaped and constrained by structural, cultural, and policy forces that limit how their value is understood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian Nurse Practitioners (NPs) faced heightened demands for leadership and adaptability, yet many reported a lack of recognition and sustained visibility. This tension between contribution and recognition raises questions about how NP value is defined and legitimized.

Purpose: This article explores the emergent concept of value as perceived and embodied by NPs during the pandemic. It offers an interpretive discussion of this existential theme, drawn from a broader phenomenological study of Australian NPs' lived experiences. Although based on that study, this article presents a focused philosophical and contextual analysis.

Methodology: Guided by qualitative phenomenology, 16 hospital-based NPs were interviewed. Although three themes were identified in the broader study, this article centers on the interpretive thread of value.

Findings: Participants described feeling systemically undervalued, with recognition frameworks narrowly focused on clinical productivity. They described how this conditional visibility affected their identity and perceived sustainability. Despite this, the participants expressed a deeper sense of value through their leadership, adaptability, and ability to cope under pressure, contributions that they felt were often overlooked or unacknowledged.

Conclusions and implications: Current frameworks overlook the full scope of NP contribution. A broader understanding of value, beyond productivity and inclusive of the integrative nature of practice, is essential to enhance recognition, support sustainability, and enable meaningful system integration.