Identifying training objectives: the role of negotiation.

Current training initiatives for health care professionals tend to be based on management assumptions of need or on the wish-list demands of potential course attenders. Each approach has major disadvantages, in that neither has the capacity to simultaneously satisfy the organization's objectives, whilst maintaining the motivation and commitment of the participants. This short report discusses an alternative approach that used a valid and reliable training needs analysis instrument with nurses and managers to inform Nurse Practitioner development. The results facilitated the commissioning of relevant education courses, clarified new role boundaries and acted as an agent for negotiation and change between the two groups.