Mapping workforce configuration and operational models in Australian emergency departments: a national survey.

Objective Hospital emergency departments (ED) in Australia and internationally have been experiencing increased demand, resulting in reduced hospital quality, impaired access and adverse health outcomes. Effective evaluation of new ED service models and their effect on outcomes is reliant on baseline measures of the staffing configuration and organisational characteristics of the EDs being studied. The aim of the present study was to comprehensively measure these variables in Australian EDs.

Review article: Diagnostic accuracy of risk stratification tools for patients with chest pain in the rural emergency department: A systematic review.

Risk stratification tools for patients presenting to rural EDs with undifferentiated chest pain enable early definitive treatment in high-risk patients. This systematic review compares the most commonly used risk stratification tools used to predict the risk of major adverse cardiac event (MACE) for patients presenting to rural EDs with chest pain. A comprehensive search of MEDLINE and Embase for studies published between January 2011 and January 2015 was undertaken.

The impact of nurse practitioner services on cost, quality of care, satisfaction and waiting times in the emergency department: a systematic review.

Aims: To provide the best available evidence to determine the impact of nurse practitioner services on cost, quality of care, satisfaction and waiting times in the emergency department for adult patients.

Background: The delivery of quality care in the emergency department is emerging as one of the most important service indicators in health delivery. Increasing service pressures in the emergency department have resulted in the adoption of service innovation models: the most common and rapidly expanding of these is emergency nurse practitioner services.

Beyond competencies: using a capability framework in developing practice standards for advanced practice nursing.

Aim: This paper presents a discussion on the application of a capability framework for advanced practice nursing standards/competencies.

Background: There is acceptance that competencies are useful and necessary for definition and education of practice-based professions. Competencies have been described as appropriate for practice in stable environments with familiar problems.

Using the Donabedian framework to examine the quality and safety of nursing service innovation.

Aims And Objectives: To evaluate the safety and quality of nurse practitioner service using the audit framework of Structure, Process and Outcome.

Background: Health service and workforce reform are on the agenda of governments and other service providers seeking to contain healthcare costs whilst providing safe and effective health care to communities. The nurse practitioner service is one health workforce innovation that has been adopted globally to improve timely access to clinical care, but there is scant literature reporting evaluation of the quality of this service innovation.

Development of clinical competencies for emergency nurse practitioners: a pilot study.

Background: Nurse practitioner education and practice has been guided by generic competency standards in Australia since 2006. Development of specialist competencies has been less structured and there are no formal standards to guide education and continuing professional development for specialty fields. There is limited international research and no Australian research into development of specialist nurse practitioner competencies.

Clients' understanding of the role of nurse practitioners.

Nurse practitioners (NPs) have an emerging role in the Australian health care system. However, there remains a dearth of data about public understanding of the NP role. The aim of this study was to evaluate clients' understanding of the role of the NP and their satisfaction with education received, quality of care and NP knowledge and skill.

Identifying measures for evaluating new models of nursing care: a survey of NSW nurse practitioners.

Health-care reforms in Australia and worldwide have seen the creation of the position of nurse practitioner (NP). To date, no protocol has been developed in Australia to guide the evaluation of this new role. All NSW authorized NPs were invited to participate in a self-administered questionnaire.