The influence of a nurse practitioner on out of hours work intensity for surgical house officers.
We have prospectively studied the influence of a nurse practitioner service on out of hours work intensity of surgical house officers. Data collection was achieved by prospective audit. The study was set in the surgical wards in a large teaching hospital. The main outcome measures were; 1) the nature and frequency of overnight calls to the nurse practitioner, and 2) the outcome of these calls (doctor not bleeped, telephone advice given by doctor or doctor attended ward). A total of 645 calls were made over the 75 night study period (8.6 calls/night). Two hundred and ninety-six calls were managed by the nurse practitioner alone. This represents a 46% reduction in work intensity for the surgical house officer. This study illustrates the benefits of a nurse practitioner service and also identifies important areas for undergraduate education in preparing medical students for the common problems encountered during the surgical on-call period.
Henderson
N C
NC
University Department of Surgery, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Cookson
D T
DT
Plumley
R
R
Cairns
M
M
Paterson-Brown
S
S
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload