title: Acute coronary syndrome nurses: perceptions of other members of the health care team.
abstract: Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are a major health care problem and result in a large number of hospital admissions each year. Nurses across the NHS are being empowered to undertake a growing range of responsibilities but little research evidence exists related to the impact on patient care nor working practice with other health professionals. This paper reports part of the evaluation of a British Heart Foundation pilot project to place an 'ACS nurse' in participating hospitals. In each of 5 hospitals, 100 staff across accident and emergency, general medicine and cardiac specialities were sent a questionnaire. The response rate was 33%. Respondents felt that the ACS nurse role was beneficial to patient care and had little overlap with existing roles within the hospital. Support for nurse initiated thrombolysis was high, but comments reflected the on-going debate around accountability and training. Communication and problem solving were identified as key elements of the ACS nurse role. Findings in this study show support for the integration of an ACS nurse role as a way to provide improved care to ACS patients.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK. m.dunckley@coventry.ac.uk
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dunckley
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Rumona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.forename: Rav
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jayram
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002309:Cardiology / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000451:nursing; D006113:United Kingdom