Nurse practitioner in Swedish municipal elderly care: A Delphi study of challenges and opportunities

Worldwide, countries are struggling with strained healthcare systems, especially due to the growing number of frail elderly. Developing the role of nurse practitioner in the care of the frail elderly is therefore of interest to make the care chain more efficient. In Sweden, the role is in an early development phase, but more research is needed.

The aim was to investigate how stakeholders at the national level express the challenges and opportunities of the evolving nurse practitioner role in Swedish municipal elderly care.

A Delphi survey technique with three rounds of electronic questionnaires was used. Twenty-seven experts responded to the first questionnaire, containing two open questions; what opportunities respectively challenges do you see in developing and implementing the nurse practitioner role in municipal elderly care? The following questionnaires consisted of statements to rate using a four-grade Likert scale, and 20 and 17 responded to the second and third, respectively. The first round was analysed using content analysis, and the other two with descriptive statistics.

Thirty-four statements about challenges and opportunities related to the nurse practitioner role in municipal elderly care were identified and rated as important.

The findings provide knowledge that can contribute to discussions and decisions to refine the nurse practitioner role in Swedish municipal elderly care. The nurse practitioner role may contribute with much-needed competence to the elderly care. However, it is important to consider the challenges that need to be overcome before the development of the role. To solve this, it is necessary to have clear national guidelines concerning issues of education, title protection and the mandate and authority of the NP role.