What are the attitudes and perceptions of general practitioners about the role of nurse practitioners in the community care setting: A scoping review

Abstract

Background

The Nurse Practitioner role in Australia is slowly expanding, with a well-established body of evidence supporting their introduction. Yet, there is a lack of consistent support from the medical profession for this role. Nurse Practitioners wishing to work in the community setting may, therefore, experience resistance from General Practitioners.

Objective

To identify and explore the attitudes and perceptions of Australian General Practitioners about Nurse Practitioners' community settings. To explore what is the view of GPs outside of Australia on this topic.

Method

A scoping review of the Cochrane, MEDLINE, Psych INFO, and CINHAL databases was undertaken from 1995 to April 2023 and reported using PRISMA. Quality evaluation tools devised by Dixon-Woods et al. (2005) and previously used by Paterson et al. (2015) were used to evaluate the included studies. A narrative synthesis was then undertaken using the method described by Whittemore and Knafl (2005).

Findings

The scoping review identified 1623 potential publications. After a comparison of the title and abstract to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 publications underwent an in-depth review, eight publications met the inclusion criteria for a full review. The review did not identify a publication from Australia. Elsewhere the attitudes of General Practitioners were influenced by the lack of definition of the Nurse Practitioner role, a lack of knowledge of the Nurse Practitioner skill level, fear of service duplication, deterioration in patient relationships, who had responsibility for the role and funding for the role.

Conclusion

There is a lack of evidence in an Australian context to determine if General Practitioners in Australia have similar views to their international counterparts. Careful planning needs to be undertaken to overcome potential issues and to enable the Nurse Practitioner role to be effectively implemented in an Australian community setting.