Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing: the Need for a Blended Role

The purpose of this article is to advance the debate about whether the NP or the CNS alone should be the predominant advanced practice role in psychiatric-mental health nursing, or whether a blended advanced practice role is more appropriate for meeting the needs of services in the 21st century. We argue that a blended role is most appropriate in moving the psychiatric-mental health nursing specialty forward. The blended advanced practice role retains the excellence of our psychosocial tradition and incorporates the biological perspective of the future.