Establishing a nurse practitioner model to enhance continuity between palliative care settings

Area of Science:

• Healthcare delivery models
• Palliative care services
• Nurse practitioner scope of practice

Background:

• Nurse practitioners (NPs) are a recent addition to Australian healthcare, with national registration in 2010.
• Existing literature primarily focuses on NP models and scope of practice.
• This study details the establishment and evaluation of an NP care model bridging inpatient and community palliative care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance patient outcomes in both hospital and home settings.
• To improve professional relationships between inpatient and community palliative care services.
• To facilitate seamless patient transitions (discharges and admissions) between care settings.

Main Methods:

• Development of a collaborative evaluation framework.
• Utilisation of agreed-upon key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessment.
• 12-month evaluation of the implemented NP model of care.

Main Results:

• The NP model was associated with earlier hospital discharges.
• Fewer hospital readmissions were observed for patients receiving home-based palliative care.
• Opportunities for strengthening inter-service professional relationships through collaboration were identified.

Conclusions:

• The NP model demonstrated benefits for patient care coordination.
• The model positively impacted clinical cooperation between inpatient and community palliative care services.
• Further development can enhance collaborative clinical and educational initiatives.