ABSTRACT
Although use of nurse practitioners is well developed in the USA, it is only in the past 10 years that they have become established in the UK. A nurse practitioner has been defined as ‘an advanced level clinical nurse who through extra education and training is able to practice autonomously, making clinical decisions and instigating treatment decisions based on those decisions, and is fully accountable for her own practice’ (Royal College of Nursing 1989). Models of nurse practitioner care have, however, developed in several different ways. In Britain, nurse practitioners working in general practice most commonly work as part of a team alongside general practitioners (GPs), and it is this model we have evaluated.
