IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2021i1p292-d712765.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Increased Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Due to Nurse Prescribing of Medicines

Author

Listed:
  • Dorota Kilańska

    (Department of Coordinated Care, Medical University of Lodz, 90-131 Lodz, Poland)

  • Anna Lipert

    (Department of Sports Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, 92-213 Lodz, Poland)

  • Marika Guzek

    (Medical and Diagnostic Center (MCM), 08-110 Siedlce, Poland)

  • Per Engelseth

    (Narvik Campus, Tromsø School of Business and Economics, The Arctic University of Norway, 8505 Narvik, Norway)

  • Michał Marczak

    (Department of Management and Logistics in Healthcare, Medical University of Lodz, 90-131 Lodz, Poland)

  • Kamila Sienkiewicz

    (Department of Management and Logistics in Healthcare, Medical University of Lodz, 90-131 Lodz, Poland)

  • Remigiusz Kozłowski

    (Center of Security Technologies in Logistics, Faculty of Management, University of Lodz, 90-237 Lodz, Poland)

Abstract

Since January 2016, nurses and midwives in Poland have had the right, with some restrictions, to prescribe medicines. Consequently, Polish patients received the same opportunity as in other countries worldwide: easier access to certain health services, i.e., medical prescribing. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of structural changes which increased the nurses’ competences on the accessibility to prescription visits for patients receiving primary healthcare on the example of Medical and Diagnostic Centre (MDC), and to discuss the general trend of legal changes in nursing profession regulations. We performed a detailed analysis of the data on the MDC patient population in Siedlce who received at least one prescription written by a general practitioner and/or a nurse/midwife in the years 2017–2019.The largest number of prescription visits made by nurses concerned patients aged 50–70 years, as this age range includes the largest number of patients with chronic diseases who need continued pharmacological treatment originally administered by doctors. An increasing tendency for prescription visits made by nurses was recorded, with a simultaneous downward trend in the same type of visits undertaken by doctors at MDC. Nurses’ involvement in prescribing medications as a continued pharmacotherapy during holiday seasons results in patients having continuous access to medication. An upward trend was also observed in the number of medications prescribed by nurses per patient. Structural changes in the legal regulations of the nursing profession improve patients’ access to prescription visits under primary healthcare. Further research is recommended to evaluate the dynamics of these trends and the impact of newly introduced nursing competences on the accessibility of prescription visits for patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorota Kilańska & Anna Lipert & Marika Guzek & Per Engelseth & Michał Marczak & Kamila Sienkiewicz & Remigiusz Kozłowski, 2021. "Increased Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Due to Nurse Prescribing of Medicines," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:292-:d:712765
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/292/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/292/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anecita Gigi Lim & Nicola North & John Shaw, 2018. "Beginners in prescribing practice: Experiences and perceptions of nurses and doctors," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5-6), pages 1103-1112, March.
    2. Marie-Laure Delamaire & Gaétan Lafortune, 2010. "Nurses in Advanced Roles: A Description and Evaluation of Experiences in 12 Developed Countries," OECD Health Working Papers 54, OECD Publishing.
    3. Claudia B. Maier & Linda H. Aiken & Reinhard Busse, 2017. "Nurses in advanced roles in primary care: Policy levers for implementation," OECD Health Working Papers 98, OECD Publishing.
    4. Peter C. Smith & Andrew D. Street, 2013. "On The Uses Of Routine Patient‐Reported Health Outcome Data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 119-131, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marlene Carvalho & Filomena Gaspar & Teresa Potra & Pedro Lucas, 2022. "Translation, Adaptation, and Validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Clinical Nurse Leaders for the Portuguese Culture," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    2. Köppen, Julia & Maier, Claudia B. & Busse, Reinhard, 2018. "What are the motivating and hindering factors for health professionals to undertake new roles in hospitals? A study among physicians, nurses and managers looking at breast cancer and acute myocardial ," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1118-1125.
    3. Silje Havrevold Henni & Marit Kirkevold & Konstantinos Antypas & Christina Foss, 2019. "The integration of new nurse practitioners into care of older adults: A survey study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(15-16), pages 2911-2923, August.
    4. Ruth Martin‐Misener & Faith Donald & Abigail Wickson‐Griffiths & Noori Akhtar‐Danesh & Jenny Ploeg & Kevin Brazil & Sharon Kaasalainen & Carrie McAiney & Nancy Carter & Lori Schindel Martin & Esther S, 2015. "A mixed methods study of the work patterns of full‐time nurse practitioners in nursing homes," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(9-10), pages 1327-1337, May.
    5. Kinga Harpula & Anna Bartosiewicz, 2022. "Factors Influencing Nurses’ Opinions on the Implementation of Nursing Advice in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-9, June.
    6. Yukari Hara & Kyoko Asakura & Takashi Asakura, 2020. "The Impact of Changes in Professional Autonomy and Occupational Commitment on Nurses’ Intention to Leave: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Catrin Evans & Ruth Pearce & Sarah Greaves & Holly Blake, 2020. "Advanced Clinical Practitioners in Primary Care in the UK: A Qualitative Study of Workforce Transformation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Mary Ryder & Elisabeth Jacob & Joyce Hendricks, 2019. "An inductive qualitative approach to explore Nurse Practitioners views on leadership and research: An international perspective," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(13-14), pages 2644-2658, July.
    9. repec:zbw:rwirep:0470 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Temido, Marta & Dussault, Gilles, 2015. "How can a country learn from the experience of another? Expanding nurses’ scope of practice in Portugal: Lessons from England," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(4), pages 475-487.
    11. Gerard M Fealy & Daniela Rohde & Mary Casey & Anne‐Marie Brady & Josephine Hegarty & Catriona Kennedy & Martin McNamara & Pauline O'Reilly & Geraldine Prizeman, 2015. "Facilitators and barriers in expanding scope of practice: findings from a national survey of Irish nurses and midwives," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(23-24), pages 3615-3626, December.
    12. Agnes Higgins & Rebecca Murphy & Carmel Downes & Jarlath Varley & Cecily Begley & Naomi Elliott, 2020. "Factors influencing the implementation of Epilepsy Specialist Nurse role: Using the Consolidation Framework for Implementation Research," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(7-8), pages 1352-1364, April.
    13. Faith Donald & Kelley Kilpatrick & Kim Reid & Nancy Carter & Ruth Martin-Misener & Denise Bryant-Lukosius & Patricia Harbman & Sharon Kaasalainen & Deborah A. Marshall & Renee Charbonneau-Smith & Erin, 2014. "A Systematic Review of the Cost-Effectiveness of Nurse Practitioners and Clinical Nurse Specialists: What Is the Quality of the Evidence?," Nursing Research and Practice, Hindawi, vol. 2014, pages 1-28, September.
    14. Ruggeri, Matteo & Drago, Carlo & Moramarco, Vincenzo & Coretti, Silvia & Köppen, Julia & Islam, Muhammad Kamrul & Gibson, Jonathan & Busse, Reinhard & van Exel, Job & Sutton, Matthew & Askildsen, Jan , 2018. "New professional roles and patient satisfaction: Evidence from a European survey along three clinical pathways," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1078-1084.
    15. Maier, Claudia B., 2015. "The role of governance in implementing task-shifting from physicians to nurses in advanced roles in Europe, U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1627-1635.
    16. Kotherová Zuzana & Caithamlová Martina & Nemec Miroslav, 2023. "Factors Influencing the Involvement of Nurses in Preventive Care and Health Literacy in the Czech Republic," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 33-50, December.
    17. Kelley Kilpatrick & Mira Jabbour & Chantal Fortin, 2016. "Processes in healthcare teams that include nurse practitioners: what do patients and families perceive to be effective?," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5-6), pages 619-630, March.
    18. Maier, Claudia B. & Batenburg, Ronald & Birch, Stephen & Zander, Britta & Elliott, Robert & Busse, Reinhard, 2018. "Health workforce planning: which countries include nurse practitioners and physician assistants and to what effect?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1085-1092.
    19. Sharon Barak & Tzlil Rabinovitz & Achinoam Ben Akiva-Maliniak & Rony Schenker & Lian Meiry & Riki Tesler, 2022. "An Individually Tailored Program to Increase Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors among the Elderly," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, September.
    20. Kuhlmann, Ellen & Groenewegen, Peter P. & Bond, Christine & Burau, Viola & Hunter, David J., 2018. "Primary care workforce development in Europe: An overview of health system responses and stakeholder views," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1055-1062.
    21. Julia van Kraaij & Catharina van Oostveen & Hester Vermeulen & Maud Heinen & Anita Huis & Marian Adriaansen & Jeroen Peters, 2020. "Nurse practitioners’ perceptions of their ability to enact leadership in hospital care," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3-4), pages 447-458, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:292-:d:712765. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.