IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v26y2017i13-14p1960-1968.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A qualitative study of collaboration in general practice: understanding the general practice nurse's role

Author

Listed:
  • Susan McInnes
  • Kath Peters
  • Andrew Bonney
  • Elizabeth Halcomb

Abstract

Aims and objectives To explore the nature of collaboration between registered nurses and general practitioners in Australian general practice. Background There is international recognition that collaboration between health professionals can improve care coordination, enhance health outcomes, optimise the work environment and reduce healthcare costs. However, effective collaboration requires a clear understanding of each team member's role. Design A qualitative approach guided by Naturalistic Inquiry was used to elicit and interpret participant narratives. Methods Eight general practitioners and fourteen registered nurses working in general practice were purposefully recruited. Data were collected via individual, semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews during February to May 2015. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Data revealed three overarching themes. This study presents the data for the overarching theme ‘Understanding the general practice registered nurse's role’. Many general practitioner participants lacked clarity around the role and scope of practice of the registered nurse. At the same time, nursing participants often articulated their role as an assistant rather than as an independent health professional. This limited collaboration and the nurses’ role within the team. Collaboration was enhanced when general practitioners actively sought an understanding of the registered nurses scope of practice. Conclusion Clarifying the nurses’ role promotes collaboration and supports nurses to work to the full extent of their practice. This is important in terms of optimising the nurses’ role within the team and reinforcing their professional identity. Relevance to clinical practice Identification of key issues around understanding the nurses’ role may help inform strategies that improve collaboration and workplace relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan McInnes & Kath Peters & Andrew Bonney & Elizabeth Halcomb, 2017. "A qualitative study of collaboration in general practice: understanding the general practice nurse's role," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(13-14), pages 1960-1968, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:13-14:p:1960-1968
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.13598
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13598
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.13598?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geraldine McCarthy & Nicola Cornally & Joe Moran & Marie Courtney, 2012. "Practice nurses and general practitioners: perspectives on the role and future development of practice nursing in Ireland," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(15‐16), pages 2286-2295, August.
    2. Elizabeth Halcomb & Moira Stephens & Julianne Bryce & Elizabeth Foley & Christine Ashley, 2016. "Nursing competency standards in primary health care: an integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(9-10), pages 1193-1205, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter M. Sinclair & Ashly Kable & Tracy Levett‐Jones & Carl Holder & Christopher J. Oldmeadow, 2019. "The CKD‐DETECT study: An RCT aimed at improving intention to initiate a kidney health check in Australian practice nurses," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(15-16), pages 2745-2759, August.

    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. Christine Ashley & Elizabeth Halcomb & Angela Brown & Kath Peters, 2018. "Experiences of registered nurses transitioning from employment in acute care to primary health care—quantitative findings from a mixed‐methods study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1-2), pages 355-362, January.
    2. Virpi Maijala & Kerttu Tossavainen & Hannele Turunen, 2015. "Identifying nurse practitioners' required case management competencies in health promotion practice in municipal public primary health care. A two‐stage modified Delphi study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(17-18), pages 2554-2561, September.
    3. Sonja Dawson & Doug Elliott & Debra Jackson, 2017. "Nurses' contribution to short‐term humanitarian care in low‐ to middle‐income countries: An integrative review of the literature," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(23-24), pages 3950-3961, December.
    4. Maria Mulka‐Gierek & Bartosz Foroncewicz & Michał Florczak & Leszek Pączek & Marek Krawczyk & Krzysztof Mucha, 2016. "The use of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and analgesics by liver transplant recipients," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(7-8), pages 1001-1005, April.
    5. Elizabeth Halcomb & Christine Ashley, 2017. "Australian primary health care nurses most and least satisfying aspects of work," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3-4), pages 535-545, February.
    6. Torunn Kitty Vatnøy & Tor‐Ivar Karlsen & Bjørg Dale, 2019. "Exploring nursing competence to care for older patients in municipal in‐patient acute care: A qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(17-18), pages 3339-3352, September.
    7. Clare Harvey & Desley Hegney & Agnieszka Sobolewska & Diane Chamberlain & Elspeth Wood & Lisa Wirihana & Sandy Mclellan & Joyce Hendricks & Troy Wake, 2019. "Developing a community-based nursing and midwifery career pathway – A narrative systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Arita Murwani & Santoso Santoso & Eny Lestari & Endang S. Sulaeman, 2019. "The Health Promotion Model of Public Health Program for Elderly," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(7), pages 119-119, July.
    10. Elizabeth Halcomb & Moira Stephens & Julianne Bryce & Elizabeth Foley & Christine Ashley, 2016. "Nursing competency standards in primary health care: an integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(9-10), pages 1193-1205, May.
    11. Mohamed Toufic El Hussein & Olive Fast, 2020. "Gut feeling: A grounded theory study to identify clinical educators' reasoning processes in putting students on a learning contract," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1-2), pages 75-84, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:13-14:p:1960-1968. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    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.