OBJECTIVES: To describe how nurse practitioners (NPs) employed by EverCare, a Medicare HMO serving exclusively nursing home residents, spend their working days. DESIGN: A descriptive study based on structured self-reports. SETTING: Nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen NPs employed by EverCare in five sites. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reports of time spent over a 2-week period and specific reports of how time was spent on selected cases. RESULTS: NPs spend about 35% of their working day on direct patient care and another 26% in indirect care activities. Of the latter, 46% of the time was spent interacting with nursing home staff, 26% with family, and 15% with the physicians. The mean time spent on a given patient per day was 42 minutes (median 30); of this time 20 minutes was direct care (median 15). CONCLUSIONS: NPs' activities are varied. Much of their time is spent communicating with vital parties, an important function that supports the physicians' primary care role and should enhance families' satisfaction with care.
OBJECTIVES: To describe how nurse practitioners (NPs) employed by EverCare, a Medicare HMO serving exclusively nursing home residents, spend their working days. DESIGN: A descriptive study based on structured self-reports. SETTING: Nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen NPs employed by EverCare in five sites. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reports of time spent over a 2-week period and specific reports of how time was spent on selected cases. RESULTS: NPs spend about 35% of their working day on direct patient care and another 26% in indirect care activities. Of the latter, 46% of the time was spent interacting with nursing home staff, 26% with family, and 15% with the physicians. The mean time spent on a given patient per day was 42 minutes (median 30); of this time 20 minutes was direct care (median 15). CONCLUSIONS: NPs' activities are varied. Much of their time is spent communicating with vital parties, an important function that supports the physicians' primary care role and should enhance families' satisfaction with care.
Authors: B Fougère; C Lagourdette; P Abele; B Resnick; M Rantz; C Kam Yuk Lai; Q Chen; W Moyle; B Vellas; J E Morley Journal: J Nutr Health Aging Date: 2018 Impact factor: 4.075