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Practice nurses in Australia: current issues and future directions
Author(s) -
Keleher Helen,
Joyce Catherine M,
Parker Rhian,
Piterman Leon
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01153.x
Subject(s) - workforce , nursing , work (physics) , government (linguistics) , scope (computer science) , scope of practice , nursing practice , health care , nurse practitioners , medicine , psychology , political science , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , law , programming language , engineering
Almost 60% of general practices now employ at least one practice nurse. Australian Government initiatives to support the expansion of practice nursing are not consistently based on strong evidence about effectiveness, outcomes or efficiencies. Reviews from other countries suggest that practice nurses can achieve good health outcomes, but there is little information about the Australian practice‐nurse workforce, funding models to support their work, scope of their practice, or its outcomes. Australian practice nursing lacks a career structure and an education framework to advance nurses’ skills and knowledge. To maximise the contribution of nurses in primary care, a more systematic approach is needed, with a stronger evidence base for policy to support effective outcomes.