Nurse Practitioner NP (Primary care) – Overview

In Australia's healthcare system, nurse practitioners (NP) have a significant role. In Australia, there are about 2235 nurse practitioners (NPs), according to the Nursing Midwifery Board Australia (2022). Fewer nurses work in private settings than in the public health industry, where nurse practitioners predominate. In order to determine patients' needs and promptly treat them, the Australian health care system places a high priority on offering effective, safe, and high-quality healthcare. This is the justification for Australia's healthcare system.

Critical thinking in nursing practise is a discipline-specific, reflective reasoning process that aids the nurse in creating, putting into practise, and reviewing solutions to client care and work-related issues. It is based on the restructuring brought on by population ageing or demographic shifts, as well as the occurrence of chronic illnesses like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, strokes, and osteoarthritis (Sonneborn & Miller, 2021, p. 3). The Australian government is therefore working harder to learn more about the ageing population and the intensive care and long-term therapy they need.

Given that the nurse's role encompasses more than just improving healthcare, However, it is important to ascertain the patient's condition quickly and to act accordingly. The country's performance-based healthcare system is a major concern as chronic diseases are on the rise. The healthcare system may incur significant costs as a result of the problems with the elderly in order to provide better services or care to the patients.

Primary Job of NP

In Australia, a nurse practitioner's main responsibility is to comprehend the growing needs for care services and to know how to close gaps in the provision of healthcare while putting the patient's needs first. In Australia's healthcare system, nurse practitioners are crucial in enhancing marginalised groups' access to high-quality care. In order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system, there is a practise for the primary healthcare system that involves collaboration. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2022) lists evaluation scale, critical thinking participation in professional relationships, therapeutic relationship, planning, competency, delivering safe care, performing best and quality service as important components.

As a result, in order to provide the public with greater protection, the Australian government's Australian health practitioner regulatory agency, in collaboration with the other 15 National boards, regulates nurse practitioners' work throughout the country. Primary educational, legal, and governmental standards in the nation, as well as the acceptance of nurse practitioners' roles and care in the nation, have all changed over the past few years. However, the nation's current nurse practitioner care delivery models demonstrate updates, reorganisations, and innovations to meet the needs of the populace's health. Its goals are to verify care quality, guarantee care effectiveness, and deliver more efficient, more affordable care.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services 2020 and the US government, the primary responsibilities of nurse practitioners in the nation include clinical practice leadership, research using new models to understand how to improve the quality of care provided, and efficient use of health resources (Fox et al., 2018, p. 4). Rules in the healthcare system are being changed to promote the advancement of nurse practitioners in general practice. Due to the lack of primary care nurse practitioners in the nation, there is a similar promotion process for nursing staff.

However, the provision of better healthcare services across the nation is facing challenges. The number of nurse practitioners in the nation is growing as a result of the growth in legislation and policy changes that give the most qualified nurse practitioners access to Medicare benefit schedules and the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) nationwide. In this regard, nurse practitioners are specialists in oncology, adult gerontology, dermatology, mental health, cardiovascular disease, and HIV care. A wide range of patients and populations can be handled by nurse practitioners.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia – Nurse Practitioner

Nurse practitioners should be skilled in four areas by 2022, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia: leadership, clinical practise, teaching, and advanced research. In order to deliver better clinical work with the complexity of clinical work, while applying the best evidence and synthesising their quality care for patients, nurse practitioners must be experts. They must also have a high level of education in order to treat patients well and establish relationships with their families. Nurse practitioners can therefore see the outcomes of complex research as well.

Because clinical waste and hospitals where nurses provide excellent patient care should both conduct evidence-based research (Dwyer et al., 2021, p. 3). In this regard, as a leader nurse, you ought to appreciate the significance of quality management and improve your patient care preparations. The nurse's higher education and effective leadership style have enabled her to focus on giving excellent care. The reality for nurse practitioners is work overload. In order to complete the task efficiently and simply for both self-care and patient care, appropriate training and leadership styles are needed.

Particularly in Australia, nurse practitioners are licenced to issue prescriptions for drugs. They can also schedule diagnostic, imaging, and pathology exams and offer recommendations to other medical professionals. They therefore have a huge responsibility to understand the need for better workplace management, as well as to comprehend patient needs and offer recommendations. whenever it is necessary to suggest a medication or any type of evaluation test for the patient's monitoring. In pharmacological therapy, in addition to medication, titration, and patient monitoring, effective and prompt responses to prescriptions are necessary.

Literacy, Training and Leadership for Cancer Nurse Coordinators, CNC Nurse Practitioners in Australia

Since nurse practitioners in Australia and other countries have received training to work in a variety of clinical settings, including cancer care for cancer survivors, nurse-led care is essential for a number of reasons to maintain quality of life throughout cancer treatment. Nurse practitioners are able to interact with patients and employ a comprehensive plan to forge a therapeutic alliance. Additionally, give them excellent health advice so they can communicate more effectively. because the nurse is familiar with both the patient's needs and the language of health.

In order to communicate more effectively, the nurse should have a higher literacy rate. For the benefit of the patient's health and to promote self-care, nurse practitioners should make independent decisions (Edwards et al., 2019, p. 5). The primary goal of the Cancer Nurse Coordinator CNC is to provide patients with the best care possible, including patient care coordination, patient care trajectory, and the harmony of the patient journey while providing them with a better experience. Since nurse practitioners across the nation have proven the necessity of going to the emergency room.

Their expertise in musculoskeletal and wound disorders is the reason. Therefore, it was the duty of nurse practitioners to provide secondary consultation in an emergency so that the Representation could reduce the patient's pain or clarify the demands. Additionally, nurse practitioners can be used for complex medical conditions like diabetes or heart failure. Because nurse practitioners can offer individuals with problems specialised therapies like a multidisciplinary approach or can address negative health consequences Additionally, studies have shown that a susceptible population of an item can yield a significant health outcome. Understanding the needs and preferences of senior citizens with dementia and mental health issues will help you, as a practitioner, provide excellent care.

Intervention of Nurse practitioner – Aged-patient or severely ill patients primary care

To understand the expanding boundary and how to handle outpatients as they age, primary healthcare must intervene. It is important to provide prompt care without worrying excessively about other things. For those who have been given a chronic illness diagnosis, such as a mental illness, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease, there is no waiting period. Those people might require immediate medical attention. Because they need appropriate care and a swift response In Australia, nurse practitioners are essential to the prompt delivery of care. Since it has been demonstrated that they are able to legally prescribe medications and perform assessments.

It is crucial that they concentrate on the performance of the role as a result. It would be my goal as a nurse practitioner to enhance patient care and respond quickly and efficiently. It is crucial to evaluate how long the treatment or care will last (Hains & Smith, 2020, p. 5). Being a nurse practitioner is prohibited because it is currently forbidden to be a practitioner or a human. Given that it is a life-or-death situation To assess the patient and start therapy as soon as possible, it is crucial to seek early evaluation.

It is crucial to prescribe the medication and start the assessment whenever necessary for the patient's treatment when a practitioner doctor is not available. Most importantly, nurse practitioners aim to provide patients with holistic care. Although it is not, it does offer duplicate services. Knowing the patients' requirements is also important because every patient has a different history of their ailments or chronic conditions. Understanding any allergies or pasture therapy in the patient's medical history is crucial for effective patient care. In Australia, nurse practitioners come up with solutions and fight for them so that patients can understand various problems.

For those who suffered from poor management and received subpar care, so that the patient's needs were recognised. Data collection could be the first step in the treatment, followed by comprehension and action (Chiarella et al., 2019, p. 3). supports their decision-making through the leadership and advocacy duties of nurse practitioners, which include participation in representation and tactical initiatives to resolve disputes with the healthcare system. The goal of nurse practitioners is to advance clinical leadership and a systematic understanding of a nurse's essential skills in identifying patients' needs.

Key Responsibility in Primary and Clinical Care

Being directly involved in clinical care, nurse practitioners play a key role that must be understood. They should review the patient's diagnosis because they have the authority to prescribe medication. They consequently have various rows where they may be leaders and are aware of how to handle situations in a positive way in order to reach a better outcome (Currie et al., 2018, p. 4). It is providing patients with high-quality care. In Australia, nurse practitioners have the ability to provide excellent care for the full spectrum of healthcare needs. Along with nurses who are familiar with the integration of healthcare services, it also includes people who do not have proper access to the healthcare system.

The nursing workforce in Australia is qualified to provide services under the Medicare Benefits Schedule MBS and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme PBS. They are free to practise their profession and are motivated to provide excellent care within the healthcare system. Because of this, working as a professional is more prevalent, especially in remote and rural areas with a diverse population. because MBS is not widely available to nurse practitioners (Cashin 2018, p. 3). However, they are able to put community and primary care standards into place for the populace.

Australia and the United Kingdom both have government reimbursement plans for last practitioners. Private nurse practitioners who are competent and capable of switching to the payment structure will find it especially feasible.

Based on MBS items with additional development for care services, a primary care facility, public community care, and nurse practitioner are organised. MBS items include a time-based framework level of compensation specifically for private nurse practitioners to provide consistent and reliable services to patients. The government is making an effort to set up various programmes for nurses working in the private sector due to possible financial concerns.

Private nurse practitioners are moving toward requesting a copayment because their patients are complying with their treatment regimens. and discharged based on the prompt medical care that was provided to them Inadequate access to PBS and MBS may also have specific health system components, such as the emergency room, where patients can go for free medical care at the earliest opportunity to stop further harm or injury. The pressure on general practitioners could rise as a result of the lack of references in MBS. A nurse also effectively resolves problems for people with various medical conditions.

Integration is Valuable for Nurse Practitioner NP

Regardless of the various developments or important evidence regarding the role of nurse practitioners and health care in Australia, private nurse practitioners merely require patients to travel to the general practitioner for the entirety of the treatment of their health in order to receive the prescription (O'Connor et al., 2018, p. 4). Integration is essential, but it's also important to acknowledge how limited and slow it is. As a result, efforts should be made to help nurse practitioners reach their full potential. because nurse practitioners' efforts to establish a research practise are hampered. The healthcare system's underutilised care options could result.

In Australia, nurse practitioners have a history of providing patients with high-quality care on a local and systemic level in the public and private healthcare sectors. One of the main causes of the slow integration of nurse practitioner positions is the lack of support for nurse practitioners to be paid for their services (Currie et al., 2018, p. 2). To offer patients the best care and amenities, nurse practitioners work in secondary and tertiary care settings. Both the federal government and the state government pay nurse practitioners. The National Commonwealth Government's MBS pays nurse practitioners in primary care.

Primary care practise nurses in the private sector receive higher compensation and more MBS schemes. As general practitioners, nurse practitioners practise. The expansion of nurse practitioners' Commonwealth reimbursable public services led to the development of primary care primary care delivery models in Commonwealth reimbursable public services. 

References

Cashin, A. (2018). A scoping review of the progress of the evolution of the Doctor of Nursing Practice in the USA to inform consideration of future transformation of Nurse Practitioner education in Australia. Collegian, 25(1), 141-146.

Chiarella, M., Currie, J., & Wand, T. (2019). Liability and collaborative arrangements for nurse practitioner practice in Australia. Australian Health Review, 44(2), 172-177.

Currie, J., Chiarella, M., & Buckley, T. (2018). Privately practicing nurse practitioner services in Australia and patient access to care: results from realist interviews. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(6), 344-353.

Dwyer, T., Craswell, A., & Browne, M. (2021). Predictive factors of the general public’s willingness to be seen and seek treatment from a nurse practitioner in Australia: a cross-sectional national survey. Human Resources for Health, 19(1), 1-11.

Edwards, J., Hooper, D., Rothwell, G., Kneen, K., Watson, J., & Saurman, E. (2019). A nurse practitioner-led community palliative care service in Australia. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 25(5), 245-253.

Forbes-Coe, A., Dawson, J., Flint, A., & Walker, K. (2020). The evolution of the neonatal nurse practitioner role in Australia: A discussion paper. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 26(4), 197-200.

Fox, A., Gardner, G., & Osborne, S. (2018). Nursing service innovation: A case study examining emergency nurse practitioner service sustainability. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(2), 454-464.

Hains, T., & Smith, C. (2020). What is the scope of practice of the nurse practitioner as a surgical assistant in Australia?. Journal of perioperative nursing, 33(3).

Lutze, M., Fry, M., Mullen, G., O’Connell, J., & Coates, D. (2018). Highlighting the invisible work of emergency nurse practitioners. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 14(1), 26-32.

Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. (2022). Retrieved 19 September 2022, from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/About.aspx.

O'Connor, M., Palfreyman, S., & Borghmans, F. (2018). Reflections on establishing a nurse practitioner role across acute hospital and home-based palliative care settings in Australia. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 24(9), 436-442.

Sonneborn, O., & Miller, C. (2021). The pain nurse practitioner and pain nurse's role and views on opioid management in Australia: A national questionnaire survey. Pain Management Nursing, 22(6), 740-746.