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District nurses: relationships in nurse prescribing.
1Brunel University, Middlesex. Rick.Fisher@brunel.ac.uk
British Journal of Community Nursing
|December 4, 2004
Summary
Nurse prescribing in the UK impacts relationships between district nurses, general practitioners, pharmacists, and patients. Some professional connections have strengthened, while others have weakened, changing district nursing practice.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Healthcare Management
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Nurse prescribing has been a recognized role in the UK for approximately 8 years.
- The impact of this expanded role on healthcare professionals and patient care processes remains largely unexplored.
- District nursing practice is undergoing significant changes due to various centrally driven initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the effects of nurse prescribing on the relationships of district nurses with general practitioners, pharmacists, other community nurses, patients, and carers.
- To understand how the process of nurse prescribing is altering established professional and patient interactions within community healthcare settings.
- To identify changes in relationship dynamics resulting from the implementation of nurse prescribing.
Main Methods:
- An ethnographic study was employed to investigate the early phases of nurse prescribing implementation.
- Qualitative methodology was utilized to gather in-depth insights into the experiences of those involved.
- The research focused on observing and understanding the nuances of interpersonal relationships during nurse prescribing.
Main Results:
- The introduction of nurse prescribing has led to varied effects on professional relationships.
- Some relationships between district nurses and other healthcare professionals (GPs, pharmacists) have shown improvement.
- Certain professional interactions have experienced slight deterioration, indicating complex relational shifts.
- The study observed alterations in how district nurses interact with patients and carers.
Conclusions:
- Nurse prescribing is a significant factor influencing the dynamics of district nursing practice.
- The expanded role of nurses in prescribing is reshaping interprofessional collaboration and patient-centered care.
- Ongoing evaluation is needed to fully understand the long-term consequences of nurse prescribing on healthcare relationships and outcomes.