How EverCare nurse practitioners spend their time.
OBJECTIVE
To describe how nurse practitioners (NPs) employed by EverCare, a Medicare HMO serving exclusively nursing home residents, spend their working days.


METHODS
A descriptive study based on structured self-reports.


METHODS
Nursing homes.


METHODS
Seventeen NPs employed by EverCare in five sites.


METHODS
Self-reports of time spent over a 2-week period and specific reports of how time was spent on selected cases.


RESULTS
NPs spend about 35% of their working day on direct patient care and another 26% in indirect care activities. Of the latter, 46% of the time was spent interacting with nursing home staff, 26% with family, and 15% with the physicians. The mean time spent on a given patient per day was 42 minutes (median 30); of this time 20 minutes was direct care (median 15).


CONCLUSIONS
NPs' activities are varied. Much of their time is spent communicating with vital parties, an important function that supports the physicians' primary care role and should enhance families' satisfaction with care.
Kane
R L
RL
University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
Flood
S
S
Keckhafer
G
G
Rockwood
T
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States