ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to define advanced nursing practice, discussing key components, skills, and competencies. This will form a framework for advanced nursing practice in oncology, and include examples from clinical practice to demonstrate the differences between advanced nursing practice and other levels of clinical practice. The chapter outlines clinical leadership, and discusses implications for advanced nursing practice. Specialist nurses are dedicated to caring for people with long-term conditions and diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, chronic heart failure, and dementia. Scotland developed a framework for specialist and advanced practice which builds on the core-level capability framework for nurses and allied health professionals. The situation, in the UK contrasts with the US, where legislation and regulatory mechanisms provide protected titles for clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. There is some evidence in the nursing literature highlighting how nurses' roles are changing and the impact this may have on others.
