A nurse associate in a department of family medicine: developing a role definition.

The activities of a nurse associated with a family practice were documented and categorized into functional activities to give a role description. Over two years, the mean distribution of her time has spent in well child care (28.6%), pre- and postnatal care (14.7%), health education and counselling (9.6%), liaison (2.6%), student education (23.7%) and practice management (20.8%). Two important conclusions are that her major role is in preventive care and health promotion, complementary to the role of the physician, and that her clientele is the receptive young expanding family and those with impending problems related to health hazards of lifestyles.The major problem is the lack of an adequate system of financial remuneration for preventive care(1) within a family medicine setting.