The evolution of nursing in Australian general practice: a comparative analysis of workforce surveys ten years on

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Abstract

Background

Nursing in Australian general practice has grown rapidly over the last decade in response to government initiatives to strengthen primary care. There are limited data about how this expansion has impacted on the nursing role, scope of practice and workforce characteristics. This study aimed to describe the current demographic and employment characteristics of Australian nurses working in general practice and explore trends in their role over time.

Methods

In the nascence of the expansion of the role of nurses in Australian general practice (2003–2004) a national survey was undertaken to describe nurse demographics, clinical roles and competencies. This survey was repeated in 2009–2010 and comparative analysis of the datasets undertaken to explore workforce changes over time.

Results

Two hundred eighty four nurses employed in general practice completed the first survey (2003/04) and 235 completed the second survey (2009/10). Significantly more participants in Study 2 were undertaking follow-up of pathology results, physical assessment and disease specific health education. There was also a statistically significant increase in the participants who felt that further education/training would augment their confidence in all clinical tasks (p < 0.001). Whilst the impact of legal implications as a barrier to the nurses’ role in general practice decreased between the two time points, more participants perceived lack of space, job descriptions, confidence to negotiate with general practitioners and personal desire to enhance their role as barriers. Access to education and training as a facilitator to nursing role expansion increased between the two studies. The level of optimism of participants for the future of the nurses’ role in general practice was slightly decreased over time.

Conclusions

This study has identified that some of the structural barriers to nursing in Australian general practice have been addressed over time. However, it also identifies continuing barriers that impact practice nurse role development. Understanding and addressing these issues is vital to optimise the effectiveness of the primary care nursing workforce.

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Imbalance in the health workforce

Pascal Zurn, Mario Dal Poz, Barbara Stilwell … (2004)

Imbalance in the health workforce is a major concern in both developed and developing countries. It is a complex issue that encompasses a wide range of possible situations. This paper aims to contribute not only to a better understanding of the issues related to imbalance through a critical review of its definition and nature, but also to the development of an analytical framework. The framework emphasizes the number and types of factors affecting health workforce imbalances, and facilitates the development of policy tools and their assessment. Moreover, to facilitate comparisons between health workforce imbalances, a typology of imbalances is proposed that differentiates between profession/specialty imbalances, geographical imbalances, institutional and services imbalances and gender imbalances.

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Nurses in Australian general practice: implications for chronic disease management.

Rhonda Griffiths, Elizabeth J Halcomb, R Ollerton … (2008)

The purpose of this study was to describe the demographic and employment characteristics of Australian practice nurses and explore the relationship between these characteristics and the nurses' role. Nursing in general practice is an integral component of primary care and chronic disease management in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, but in Australia it is an emerging specialty and there is limited data on the workforce and role. National postal survey embedded in a sequential mixed method design. 284 practice nurses completed a postal survey during 2003-2004. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were utilized to analyse the data. Most participants were female (99%), Registered Nurses (86%), employed part-time in a group practice, with a mean age of 45.8 years, and had a hospital nursing certificate as their highest qualification (63%). The tasks currently undertaken by participants and those requiring further education were inversely related (R2 = -0.779). Conversely, tasks perceived to be appropriate for a practice nurse and those currently undertaken by participants were positively related (R2 = 0.8996). There was a mismatch between the number of participants who perceived that a particular task was appropriate and those who undertook the task. This disparity was not completely explained by demographic or employment characteristics. Extrinsic factors such as legal and funding issues, lack of space and general practitioner attitudes were identified as barriers to role expansion. Practice nurses are a clinically experienced workforce whose skills are not optimally harnessed to improve the care of the growing number of people with chronic and complex conditions. Relevance to clinical practice. Study data reveal a need to overcome the funding, regulatory and interprofessional barriers that currently constrain the practice nurse role. Expansion of the practice nurse role is clearly a useful adjunct to specialist management of chronic and complex disease, particularly within the context of contemporary policy initiatives.

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A randomized cross-over study of the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among females performing 30:2 and hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Cynthia Trowbridge, Jesal Parekh, Mark Ricard … (2009)

Background Hands-Only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is recommended for use on adult victims of witnessed out-of-hospital (OOH) sudden cardiac arrest or in instances where rescuers cannot perform ventilations while maintaining minimally interrupted quality compressions. Promotion of Hands-Only CPR should improve the incidence of bystander CPR and, subsequently, survival from OOH cardiac arrest; but, little is known about a rescuer's ability to deliver continuous chest compressions of adequate rate and depth for periods typical of emergency services response time. This study evaluated chest compression rate and depth as subjects performed Hands-Only CPR for 10 minutes. For comparison purposes, each also performed chest compressions with ventilations (30:2) CPR. It also evaluated fatigue and changes in body biomechanics associated with each type of CPR. Methods Twenty healthy female volunteers certified in basic life support performed Hands-Only CPR and 30:2 CPR on a manikin. A mixed model repeated measures cross-over design evaluated chest compression rate and depth, changes in fatigue (chest compression force, perceived exertion, and blood lactate level), and changes in electromyography and joint kinetics and kinematics. Results All subjects completed 10 minutes of 30:2 CPR; but, only 17 completed 10 minutes of Hands-Only CPR. Rate, average depth, percentage at least 38 millimeters deep, and force of compressions were significantly lower in Hands-Only CPR than in 30:2 CPR. Rates were maintained; but, compression depth and force declined significantly from beginning to end CPR with most decrement occurring in the first two minutes. Perceived effort and joint torque changes were significantly greater in Hands-Only CPR. Performance was not influenced by age. Conclusion Hands-Only CPR required greater effort and was harder to sustain than 30:2 CPR. It is not known whether the observed greater decrement in chest compression depth associated with Hands-Only CPR would offset the potential physiological benefit of having fewer interruptions in compressions during an actual resuscitation. The dramatic decrease in compression depth in the first two minutes reinforces current recommendations that rescuers take turns performing compressions, switching every two minutes or less. Further study is recommended to determine the impact of real-time feedback and dispatcher coaching on rescuer performance.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Elizabeth J Halcomb

Yenna Salamonson

Patricia M Davidson

Rajneesh Kaur

Samantha AM Young

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Fam Pract

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Fam Pract

Title: BMC Family Practice

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2296

Publication date Collection: 2014

Publication date (Electronic): 25 March 2014

Volume: 15

Page: 52

Affiliations

[1 ]School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Wollongong, Sydney, Australia

[2 ]School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia

[3 ]Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, USA

[4 ]University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

[5 ]University of Newcastle, Sydney, Australia

Article

Publisher ID: 1471-2296-15-52

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2296-15-52

PMC ID: 3987204

PubMed ID: 24666420

SO-VID: 913145d2-26df-468f-a59e-6780968e5875

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

The evolution of nursing in Australian general practice: a comparative analysis of workforce surveys ten years on

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Abstract

Background

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Chinese Journal of General Practice

Most cited references 21

Imbalance in the health workforce

Nurses in Australian general practice: implications for chronic disease management.

A randomized cross-over study of the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among females performing 30:2 and hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation

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