The Library
Benefits and challenges of employing health care assistants in general practice : a qualitative study of GPs' and practice nurses' perspectives
Tools
Petrova, Mila, Vail, Laura, Bosley, Sara and Dale, Jeremy (2010) Benefits and challenges of employing health care assistants in general practice : a qualitative study of GPs' and practice nurses' perspectives. Family Practice, Vol.27 (No.3). pp. 303-311. doi:10.1093/fampra/cmq011 ISSN 0263-2136.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmq011
Abstract
Objectives. To explore the role of HCAs in general practice and the benefits and challenges associated with their employment.
Methods. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 6 GPs and 13 practice nurses as part of a larger qualitative study that also included HCAs. Interviewees were from 16 general practices from two Primary Care Trusts in the West Midlands. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic and framework analysis.
Results. HCAs were seen as a valuable addition to the primary care team. They were reported to accelerate, rather than extend services, allow more appropriate use of nurses' skills and enable cost containment. Their training and supervision were felt as time intensive, demanding of time and commitment. Patient safety was raised as a concern, although no specific experience of it being compromised was reported. Nurses recognized the usefulness of HCAs, helped to make the role work, but were often anxious about the impact on their own roles and professional identity. Patients were perceived as being generally neutral or positive.
Conclusion. Cost-effectiveness, patient safety, quality of care, potentially contested role boundaries and patient attitudes are among the issues that policy-makers, commissioners and those responsible for workforce development and training need to consider in relation to HCAs in general practice. There is also a need for more in-depth evaluation of this role.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | R Medicine R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RT Nursing |
||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Mental Health and Wellbeing Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Allied health personnel, Medical personnel, Family medicine, Nurses' aides, Health care team, Qualitative research | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Family Practice | ||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||
ISSN: | 0263-2136 | ||||
Official Date: | June 2010 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Volume: | Vol.27 | ||||
Number: | No.3 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 9 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 303-311 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1093/fampra/cmq011 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
Funder: | University of Warwick | ||||
Grant number: | RD06009 (UoW) |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |