Workforce characteristics of privately practicing nurse practitioners in Australia: Results from a national survey.
J Am Assoc Nurse Pract
; 28(10): 546-553, 2016 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27215578
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
Australian private practice nurse practitioner (PPNP) services have grown since legislative changes in 2010 enabled eligible nurse practitioners (NPs) to access reimbursement for care delivered through the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This article provides data from a national survey on the workforce characteristics of PPNPs in Australia.METHOD:
PPNPs in Australia were invited to complete an electronic survey. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data using thematic analysis. There were 73 completed surveys.CONCLUSIONS:
One of the intentions of expanding access to MBS and PBS for patients treated by NPs was to increase patients' access to health care through greater flexibility in the healthcare workforce. The results of this survey confirm that the workforce characteristics of PPNPs provide a potentially untapped resource to meet current primary healthcare demand. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The findings of this study allow us to understand the characteristics of PPNP services, which are significant for workforce planning. The focus of PPNP practice is toward primary health care with PPNPs working predominantly in general practice settings. The largest age group of PPNPs is over 50 years and means a proportion will be retiring in the next 15 years.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Demography
/
Nursing, Private Duty
/
Health Workforce
/
Nurse Practitioners
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
J Am Assoc Nurse Pract
Year:
2016
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia