title: Advanced nurse practitioner-led abdominal therapeutic paracentesis.
abstract: Liver disease is a common cause of death in England and Wales, and ascites is associated with a 50% mortality rate. Most patients who present with ascites have underlying liver cirrhosis, and often require therapeutic paracentesis for symptomatic relief. This article describes a competency framework that was developed to enable advanced nurse practitioners to perform therapeutic paracentesis in an ambulatory care unit.
authors.affiliation: Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Swindon, Wiltshire, England.
authors.forename: Neal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aplin
mesh_terms: D057179:Advanced Practice Nursing; D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000451:nursing*; D019152:Paracentesis / Q000451:nursing*
keywords: advanced nurse practitioner; competence; emergency nurse; liver disease; therapeutic paracentesis