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Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care Plus: A Systematic Review
Author(s) -
Reni M. A. van Erp,
A.L. van Doorn,
G.T.W.J. van den Brink,
Jeroen Peters,
Miranda Laurant,
Anneke van Vught
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of integrated care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 1568-4156
DOI - 10.5334/ijic.5485
Subject(s) - referral , medicine , nursing , multidisciplinary approach , primary care , health care , family medicine , medline , quality (philosophy) , nurse practitioners , social science , philosophy , epistemology , sociology , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Shifting specialist care from the hospital to primary care/community care (also called primary care plus) is proposed as one option to reduce the increasing healthcare costs, improve quality of care and accessibility. The aim of this systematic review was to get insight in primary care plus provided by physician assistants or nurse practitioners. Methods: Scientific databases and reference list were searched. Hits were screened on title/abstract and full text. Studies published between 1990–2018 with any study design were included. Risk of bias assessment was performed using QualSyst tool. Results: Search resulted in 5.848 hits, 15 studies were included. Studies investigated nurse practitioners only. Primary care plus was at least equally effective as hospital care (patient-related outcomes). The number of admission/referral rates was significantly reduced in favor of primary care plus. Barriers to implement primary care plus included obtaining equipment, structural funding, direct access to patient-data. Facilitators included multidisciplinary collaboration, medical specialist support, protocols. Conclusions and Discussion: Quality of care within primary care plus delivered by nurse practitioners appears to be guaranteed, at patient-level and professional-level, with better access to healthcare and fewer referrals to hospital. Most studies were of restricted methodological quality. Findings should be interpreted with caution.

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