There is a need for improving the access to healthcare services for patients' with acute illnesses, and/or with long term needs. It is therefore a clear necessity for hospitals and municipalities to improve the staff's competence level, and to ensure that patients receive the correct treatment at the right place, and at the right time. By improving nurses' competence level the access to health care services can be improved. Advanced practice nursing (APN) roles are well established internationally, but the knowledge about APNs roles in Norway is scarce. The APN project will contribute to new models of organizing, managing and delivering high-quality health care services, and thereby contribute to more cost effective services and better patient outcomes. The APN project will contribute to a research based master education in APN with a strong emphasize on students' professional and clinical competence. The aim of study 1 is to evaluate if the master program in APN improves the students' clinical competence, and skills in clinical judgement of patients with acute, minor illnesses and/or long-term needs, and if the learning outcomes meet the needs for the new APN roles in the clinical settings. New APN models at the emergency clinic in Vestre Viken and in three municipalities will be developed, implemented and evaluated longitudinally in close cooperation between representatives from the clinical fields, education and users, and in accordance with action research approach (study 2). Some central effects and outcomes of the new APN models will be evaluated, such as patient satisfaction, increased collaboration in the health care teams, access to services, and decreased hospitals admissions from community health care (study 3). New models of APN will be a new innovation to the Norwegian health care system, challenging traditional ways of working among health care professionals. The strength of the project is the collaboration between the education,practice and users.