Survey of the degree to which critical care nurses are performing current procedural terminology-coded services.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the degree to which current procedural terminology-coded services are provided by critical care nurses. Current procedural terminology codes are used by government and private insurers for reimbursement for office, home, hospital, nursing home and emergency department services.


METHODS
Out of 100 randomly selected registered nurses invited to participate in this national survey, 43 completed the survey questionnaire. The majority of respondents were 18 to 40 years old, had a bachelor's degree, had practiced nursing between 5 and 10 years, and were employed as staff or charge nurses in an intensive care or emergency room setting.


RESULTS
More than 70% of the group were found to perform 28 codes. The codes performed by the greatest number (42) were blood or blood component transfusion and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. One-way analysis of variance applied to the amount of supervision the nurses received while performing the codes and the educational level of the nurses revealed a significant difference between the groups. Post hoc analysis of all possible group comparisons showed that diploma-prepared nurses reported significantly more supervision than nurses having a bachelor's or master's degree.


CONCLUSIONS
This exploratory study indicates that critical care nurses frequently perform selected codes with little or no supervision by a physician.
Griffith
H M
HM
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Washington, DC.
Robinson
K R
KR
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000145:classification*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003422:Critical Care; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004510:Education, Nursing, Diploma Programs; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory; D015284:Physician Payment Review Commission; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011897:Random Allocation; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000145:classification*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014481:United States