Towards an optimal composition of general practitioners and nurse practitioners in out-of-hours primary care teams: a quasi-experimental study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To gain insights into the ability of general practitioners (GPs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) to meet patient demands in out-of-hours primary care by comparing the outcomes of teams with different ratios of practitioners.

Design

Quasi-experimental study.

Setting

A GP cooperative (GPC) in the Netherlands.

Intervention

Team 2 (1 NP, 3 GPs) and team 3 (2 NPs, 2 GPs) were compared with team 1 (4 GPs). Each team covered 35 weekend days.

Participants

All 9503 patients who were scheduled for a consultation at the GPC through a nurse triage system.

Outcome measures

The primary outcome was the total number of consultations per provider for weekend cover between 10:00 and 18:00 hours. Secondary outcomes concerned the numbers of patients outside

SUBMITTER: van der Biezen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5730011 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature