Key result
An intervention providing a specialist nurse and exercise worker to GP practices revealed support for nurse-led clinics and increased skills, but raised concerns about competing demands on nurses' time.
Why the study?
Does the addition of a specialist nurse and exercise worker improve primary care staff perceptions and confidence in delivering secondary prevention for coronary heart disease?
Does the addition of a specialist nurse and exercise worker improve primary care staff perceptions and confidence in delivering secondary prevention for coronary heart disease?
Providing specialist nurse and exercise worker support to primary care practices improves staff confidence in delivering secondary prevention for coronary heart disease, though time constraints remain a challenge.
May bolster primary care capacity for CHD secondary prevention; leaves open feasibility amid workload pressures pending rigorous trials.
The many responsibilities of primary care, cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease is a growing concern. Demanding standards have been given to primary care in the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease. This article reports an evaluation of an intervention to support primary care service providers in this responsibility. A part-time specialist nurse and a part-time exercise worker were appointed to work in a group of 11 GP practices in a primary care trust in a city in the north of England. The evaluation component reported here is a qualitative study of the perceptions of health professionals on secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Interviews were conducted with 18 primary care staff from practices in both intervention (n = 11) and control (n = 11) groups. The evaluation revealed support for the development of nurse-led clinics, increased confidence and skills development among practice nurses, but some concern about competing demands on practice nurses' time. Primary healthcare professionals found their resources stretched by competing demands on their time from government initiatives.
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Macintosh et al. (2003) studied Secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (n=18). Part-time specialist nurse and part-time exercise worker vs. Control group practices was evaluated on Perceptions of health professionals on secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. An intervention providing a specialist nurse and exercise worker to GP practices revealed support for nurse-led clinics and increased skills, but raised concerns about competing demands on nurses' time.
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