Profiling emergency nurse practitioner service: an interpretive study.

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Nursing Practice
• Healthcare Services

Background:

• Nurse practitioners have provided emergency care internationally for over 30 years.
• The role enhances patient satisfaction, service indicators, and emergency department efficiency.
• Rapid international adoption of nurse practitioners outpaces service model development for education and training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the practice profile of emergency nurse practitioners (ENPs) in Australia.
• To identify common features and conceptualize
• modes of practice
• for ENPs.
• To inform the development of educational and professional standards for ENPs.

Main Methods:

• National study employing interpretive research methods.
• Data collected via in-depth interviews from December 2012 to February 2013.
• Inductive data analysis to identify conceptual themes and develop an analysis framework.

Main Results:

• Participants worked in diverse service models managing all patient acuities and complexities.
• No single definable model for the Australian ENP role was identified.
• Common practice features across models were conceptualized as "modes of practice".

Conclusions:

• The study provides new knowledge on the Australian ENP practice profile.
• Findings will guide the development of practice standards for ENP education and continuing professional development.
• Standardized operational definitions will facilitate future research on this evolving service model.