A nurse-led approach to urgent results management at Sydney Sexual Health Centre demonstrates benefits to client outcomes and cost savings: a time efficiency and health system cost analysis
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
The timely provision of test results to facilitate early access to treatment is an essential component of sexually transmissible infection (STI) control and contributes to a significant proportion of the workload at sexual health services. We aimed to estimate the time to deliver client results and treatment as well as the health system costs of the nurse-led urgent results management model at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre (SSHC) compared to an alternative ‘ordering clinician’ model.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of urgent results managed by the results nurse over 2 weeks in 2019 and an observational study over 2 weeks in 2021, where 10 clinicians managed five of their own urgent results. Additional activity data were gathered to determine the annual health system costs for both models.
Results
In the nurse-led model 211 of 280 clients required notification; 156 (73.9%) were notified on the day their results became available, and the median time to treatment (n = 137) was 1 day. The annual health system cost for the nurse-led model was A$3 922 143. In the ordering clinician model, 17 (42.5%) clients were notified on the same day, and of the 27 clients treated at SSHC, the median time to treatment increased to 4 days. The annual health system cost for the ordering clinician model was A$4 043 667.28 compared with the nurse-led model, and an additional 33.3 h per week of clinician time was required for the same level of service provision.
Conclusions
This study highlights the strengths of the nurse-led results model at SSHC, demonstrating improved client outcomes for STI notification and treatment times and health systems savings.
期刊介绍:
Sexual Health publishes original and significant contributions to the fields of sexual health including HIV/AIDS, Sexually transmissible infections, issues of sexuality and relevant areas of reproductive health. This journal is directed towards those working in sexual health as clinicians, public health practitioners, researchers in behavioural, clinical, laboratory, public health or social, sciences. The journal publishes peer reviewed original research, editorials, review articles, topical debates, case reports and critical correspondence.
Officially sponsored by:
The Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine of RACP
Sexual Health Society of Queensland
Sexual Health is the official journal of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI), Asia-Pacific, and the Asia-Oceania Federation of Sexology.