Barbara Sheer Nurse Practitioner Collection
Scope and Contents
The Barbara Sheer Nurse Practitioner Collection comprises three sections or groupings of materials. The first concerns the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (NANP), with documents derived almost entirely from the period of the organization’s existence in the 1990s to its dissolution in 1994-95. Chronological files provide an overview of the organization’s operations, and contain correspondence, reports, and memoranda that highlight NANP’s policy-making processes, activities, and initiatives. Subject files include administrative information and some specialized reports, separated for easy retrieval.
The second section concerns the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), with documents principally concerning the years of operations in the 1990s, but also including some earlier materials relative to the AANP’s founding, financial records, and meetings in the 1980s. Meeting minutes and reports detail the organization’s activities.
The third section comprises a large and varied collection of items relative to the profession as a whole, termed “nurse practitioner general interest files.” Dates range from the 1970s to the early 2000s, but center on the 1980s and 1990s. Most significant here are items concerning certification, scope of practice, and educational standards for nurse practitioners. Healthcare reform materials from the Clinton administration’s unsuccessful efforts in this area offer significant insight into the expanding role of nurse practitioners. Popular and academic publications, as well as miscellaneous organization newsletters, trace attitudes about the profession. A small number of items from several states — California, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Texas — offer professional insights from a regional perspective.
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1985-1995
Biographical / Historical
Dr. Barbara Sheer, PhD, FNP-C, FAANP, began her career in the field with a BSN in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and an MSN from the State University of New York, Binghamton, where she pursued a concentration as family nurse practitioner. She obtained a pediatric nurse practitioner certificate from the Rutgers University School of Medicine and College of Nursing. Dr. Sheer earned her doctorate in nursing education from Widener University.
Now an emerita professor from the University of Delaware, Dr. Sheer established Delaware’s nurse practitioner curriculum as well as its combined nurse practitioner/clinical nurse specialist program. Earlier, at the University of Scranton, she developed the undergraduate nursing program. Her career-long dedication to the field is evidenced not only in teaching, research, advocacy, and consulting work but also in leadership positions with national and international organizations, among these as Chair of the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners and President of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Materials from these two important organizations are major components of this collection.
The National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (NANP), represented here, was founded in 1985 as a coalition of various nurse-practitioner organizations. NANP’s objective was to provide a unified voice for the profession at the federal level, to coordinate and advocate for legislative and regulatory resolution of issues pertinent to the profession. In 1994, NANP reorganized and became the American College of Nurse Practitioners.
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), represented here, was, like NANP, founded in 1985. This organization focused on the needs of individual nurse practitioners and initiated publication of a scholarly journal in 1989. In 2013, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners merged with NANP’s successor organization, the American College of Nurse Practitioners. This unified professional organization took the name American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), taking on the remit of both predecessors. As with her central involvement in these earlier groups, Dr. Sheer was a charter member of AANP and has served as organization president.
Extent
3.0 Linear Feet (6 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Materials concern the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (NANP), the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and various related general interest files. Item types include administrative files, standards of practice, newsletters, and legislative advocacy, including healthcare reform.
Arrangement
The Sheer Collection is organized into three sections, each section filling two manuscript boxes. The first section comprises materials from the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (NANP), arranged in chronological files and, in the second box, alphabetical subject category files. The second section comprises materials from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), all arranged alphabetically by subject category. The third section comprises nurse practitioner general interest files, all arranged alphabetically by subject category.
- Title
- Barbara Sheer Nurse Practitioner Collection
- Author
- Henry K. Sharp
- Date
- 2023
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry Repository
University of Virginia School of Nursing
P.O. Box 800782
Charlottesville Virginia 22908-0782 United States
mailto:nurs-hxc@virginia.edu