abstract: 'Objectives

  To gain a consensus view of potential roles for Nurse Practitioners

  (NPs) in a rural Australian hospital and identify the barriers and

  enablers in their development and implementation.

  Design

  A three round Delphi study.

  Setting

  A rural hospital.

  Participants

  Twenty eight nurses, five doctors, four consumers, two health service

  managers, two allied health practitioners, one midwife, three community

  workers, two administrators and three others with hospital affiliation.

  Main Outcome Measures

  Consensus at 75\% level of agreement or greater, identifying service

  gaps which might benefit from NPs and the barriers and enablers

  impacting on the success of developing and implementing the role.

  Results

  Introduce mental health, aged and critical care NPs initially. Barriers

  and enablers identified as impacting on the development and

  implementation of the role were:

  Educational access for isolated rural nurses local cohort learning with

  employment contracts encompassing fee assistance and designated study

  time.

  Acceptance from doctors - supported role provided the proposed service

  is sustainable. Small teams of NPs would achieve this.

  Inappropriate Recruitment - NP role matching service need, not

  individual.

  Policy and Funding Constraints - clients are best served by NPs working

  across the care continuum. Co funding by acute and community providers

  could overcome the current constraints of commonwealth/state payment.

  Conclusion

  In developing and implementing NP roles at a rural health service the

  issues of access to tertiary education, creating a sustainable number of

  NP positions and financial cooperation from community and acute

  providers must be taken into account. Only then can nurses who wish to

  take on this NP role in a rural health service have the possibility of

  success.'
affiliation: 'Haines, HM (Corresponding Author), Univ Melbourne, Sch Rural Hlth, Rural
  Hlth Acad Network, Wangaratta, Vic, Australia.

  Haines, Helen M., Univ Melbourne, Sch Rural Hlth, Rural Hlth Acad Network, Wangaratta,
  Vic, Australia.

  Critchley, Jennifer, Univ Melbourne, Sch Rural Hlth, Shepparton, Vic, Australia.'
author: Haines, Helen M. and Critchley, Jennifer
author-email: 'hhaines@unimelb.edu.au

  crj@unimelb.edu.au'
author_list:
- family: Haines
  given: Helen M.
- family: Critchley
  given: Jennifer
da: '2023-09-28'
eissn: 1447-4328
files: []
issn: 0813-0531
journal: AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING
keywords: rural; Nurse Practitioners; Delphi study
language: English
month: SEP-NOV
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '27'
orcid-numbers: Haines, Helen M/0000-0001-8655-4562
pages: 30-36
papis_id: 2fb1a4bd36f7eacc99a163af0ecea996
ref: Haines2009developingnurse
researcherid-numbers: Haines, Helen M/P-1598-2015
times-cited: '10'
title: Developing the Nurse Practitioner role in a rural Australian hospital - a Delphi
  study of practice opportunities, barriers and enablers
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000270304400005
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '5'
volume: '27'
web-of-science-categories: Nursing
year: '2009'