Conectar
To examine the level of adherence to best-practice guidelines of interprofessional teams with acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) compared to interprofessional teams without ACNPs.
A retrospective observational study was conducted in 2023.
A retrospective cohort was created including 280 patients who underwent a coronary artery bypass graft and/or a valve repair and hospitalised in a cardiac surgery unit of a university affiliated hospital in Québec (Canada) between 1 January 2019 to 31 January 2020.
The level of adherence to best-practice guidelines was measured from a composite score in percentage. The composite score was created from a newly developed tool including 99 items across six categories (patient information, pharmacotherapy, laboratory tests, post-operative assessment, patient and interprofessional teams' characteristics). Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were computed to examine the effect of interprofessional teams with ACNPs on the level of adherence to best-practice guidelines.
Most of the patients of the cohort were male and underwent a coronary artery bypass graft procedure. Patients under the care of interprofessional teams with ACNP were 1.72 times more likely to reach a level of adherence higher than 80% compared to interprofessional teams without ACNPs and were 2.29 times more likely to be within the highest quartile of the scores for the level of adherence to best-practice guidelines of the cohort.
This study provides empirical data supporting the benefits of ACNP practice for patients, interprofessional teams and healthcare organisations.
Our findings identify the important contributions of interprofessional teams that include ACNPs using a validated instrument, as well as their contribution to the delivery of high quality patient care.
This study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: Guidelines for reporting observational studies guidelines.
No patient or public contribution.
To explore the nature and extent of peer-reviewed literature related to the use of diagnostic imaging by nurse practitioners (NPs) to inform future practice and research.
Nurse practitioners undertake advanced assessment, diagnosis, and management of patients, including requesting and interpretation of diagnostic imaging. It is unclear what evidence exists related to the quality use of radiological investigations by NPs in recent years.
A scoping review based on the steps suggested by the Joanna Briggs Institute.
A structured review of the databases Medline, CINAHL and Embase was undertaken using the keywords and MESH terms ‘nurse practitioner’, ‘medical imaging’, ‘diagnostic imaging’, ‘scan’ and ‘radiography’. Only English language articles were included, and no date limit was applied. Database review was completed on 30 May 2021.
Eight themes were identified—country and clinical context, requesting diagnostic imaging, performing diagnostic imaging, image-guided interventions, interpreting diagnostic imaging, training education and knowledge, impact on resource usage and comparison with medical practitioners. There were more studies across a greater breadth of clinical specialties and imaging modalities in the United States than in other countries. Nurse practitioner practice is frequently benchmarked against that of medical colleagues. There is a paucity of studies focusing on educational preparation and the lack of relevant university curricula for NPs around diagnostic imaging.
There are significant gaps in the evidence outside of the United States across several of the identified themes. Further studies are needed to explore NP access to and use of diagnostic imaging and to understand the barriers and facilitators to this.
Studies from four countries were included in this review. The evidence suggests that, where studied, nurse practitioners (NPs) can safely and appropriately request and interpret plain x-rays in the emergency and minor injuries setting. Further research is needed to evaluate the educational needs of NPs in relation to diagnostic imaging and their use of advanced imaging techniques, particularly outside of the United States.
No patient or public contribution.
FreshRSS 