To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a Nurse Practitioner led procedural support service for children with procedural anxiety, and identify facilitators and barriers to its sustained implementation and optimisation.
An effectiveness–implementation hybrid type 3 study used a prospective mixed methods evaluation approach.
From December 2022 to May 2023, data were collected from children, parents and clinicians using a nurse practitioner-led service at a quaternary paediatric hospital in Brisbane, Australia. A prospective audit assessed clinical outcomes, while qualitative interviews explored implementation barriers and facilitators.
The clinical audit (n = 40) confirmed the service was effective and safe, ensuring procedural completion with minimal distress. Descriptive statistics indicated low pain and anxiety scores. There was a moderate negative relationship between pain scores and the use of distraction techniques. Interviews with thirty-three participants showed the service improved access to procedural care, reduced the need for physical restraint and general anaesthesia, and enhanced clinical workflow through preadmission assessments.
Utilising a Nurse Practitioner support service represents a safe and effective strategy to enhance access for paediatric patients with procedural anxiety.
This study underscores the significance of specialised nursing roles in managing paediatric procedural anxiety, offering a replicable model to enhance procedural outcomes and mitigate medical trauma across healthcare settings.
Minimising pain and distress is important in all clinical encounters with children to reduce the risk of medical-related trauma and the future avoidance of healthcare.
The report of study outcomes was guided by the Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI) initiative.
Patients or the public were not included in the design, conduct or reporting of the study.
This study reports on the implementation of a registered advanced nurse practitioner intervention. Aims include improving access, service user outcomes and integration between primary and secondary care.
This paper reports the quantitative results of a mixed methods implementation study. Qualitative data are reported separately. The PARiHS framework informs the implementation process itself, with considerations for nurses and other healthcare professionals explored.
The CORE-OM 34 item rating scale was administered both pre- and post-intervention. Service user attendances in secondary care was monitored.
Findings suggest that the intervention was associated with clinically significant improvements in global or generic distress, reported by service users, as evidenced by changes in the CORE-OM scores. Access to care was recorded at an average of 3.6 days. Implementation science supported effective and safe implementation with clear governance structures.
Registered advanced nurse practice in mental health clinics which provide full episodes of care results in improved integration and may be associated with positive patient outcomes. Implementation science is taught on Irish nursing programmes and this is important if innovative services are to be embedded in the healthcare system.
The development of a model of care for mental health Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioners at the interface of primary and secondary care settings may be merited. Positive Advanced Recovery Connections may be associated with improving mental health outcomes and bolstering integration of primary and secondary care services. The utilisation of implementation science highlights the need for collaboration with all stakeholders to overcome barriers and recognise facilitators to attain the necessary model of integrated care.
Peer recovery input was provided by members of the service Recovery College, with participation evident in all stages of the project. The psychosocial assessment template was also co-designed.
To examine if trans and gender non-conforming participants perceive greater healthcare inequities in their interactions with healthcare practitioners than cisgender sexual minority participants, and analyse free text responses from transgender and gender non-conforming participants to gain possible insight into causes of inequities.
A cross-sectional study.
An anonymous online survey of over 2800 self-selecting LGBTQI+ participants, 30% of whom identified as trans and gender non-conforming. The research team devised closed and open-ended questions about perceptions of healthcare provision and analysed quantitative responses using SPSS and open-ended data through thematic analysis.
Over half of trans and gender non-conforming participants reported having had occasion to educate healthcare professionals about LGBTQI+ identities and a majority reported that healthcare professionals made incorrect assumptions about their LGBTQI+ identity. Invalidation and pathologisation of participants' trans and gender non-conforming identity and unhelpful therapeutic approaches were some of the negative health experiences cited.
Trans and gender non-conforming populations experience significant barriers to healthcare relative to their cisgender sexual minority peers. Cisnormative thinking in healthcare practice together with a lack of knowledge of trans and gender non-conforming people's experiences leads to substandard care and acts as a barrier to disclosure and help seeking.
Culturally responsive healthcare is critical to ending health inequities experienced by trans and gender non-conforming people.
Problem addressed: Healthcare inequities among trans and gender non-conforming participants.
Main findings: Trans and gender non-conforming participants reported more negative perceptions of their healthcare experiences compared to cisgender sexual minority participants.
Where and on whom will the research have an impact? Healthcare educators/practitioners.
Strobe.
Members of the LGBTQI+ community were part of the research advisory group and inputted into paper authorship.
Highlights the need for training to increase cultural competency among healthcare providers.