Costs and effects of higher turnover of nurses and Aboriginal health practitioners and higher use of short-term nurses in remote Australian primary care services: an observational cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To compare the costs and effects of higher turnover of resident nurses and Aboriginal health practitioners and higher use of agency-employed nurses in remote primary care (PC) services and quantify associations between staffing patterns and health outcomes in remote PC clinics in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.

Design

Observational cohort study, using hospital admission, financial and payroll data for the period 2013-2015.

Setting

53 NT Government run PC clinics in remote communities.

Outcome measures

Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated for higher compared with lower turnover and higher compared with lower use of agency-employed nurses. Costs comprised PC, travel and hospitalisation costs. Effect measures were total hospit

SUBMITTER: Zhao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6398713 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature