Advanced practice nursing: leadership to effect policy change.

Nursing leaders used evidence-based thinking to engage key stakeholders when implementing advanced practice nursing roles in a traditional medically oriented tertiary oncology center. A strategic orientation to the policy change initiative was guided by a theoretical framework for connecting research and policy. Policy approaches that addressed stakeholder values and beliefs, while attending to questions of competence, standards of practice, fiscal savings, medical and nursing workload, and ongoing multidisciplinary teamwork were essential to facilitate change.