Collaboration between nurse practitioners and family physicians in community-based care

Nursing

The study concerns the growing importance and awareness of health promortion and disease prevention, commnity-based care, and how this can be implemented in an environment where human healthcare resources are increasingly scarce. It is therefore both very relevant and important to the practice of nursing itself. Community-based care is also recognized as a complex issue, and one that needs investigation in order to ensure that the practice is implemented successfully and efficiently. This issue is particularly important in terms of the family physician, and how such a professional can effectively be used for better community-based care. These issues have resulted in an increased awareness of primary healthcare renewal, particularly in Canada, where the study is based. Specifically, the study emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary teams to ensure that healthcare in the country is renewed and optimized to a greater degree than the case had been before. Although conducted in Canada, the study is relevant to nursing throughout the world, as community-based healthcare is a global issue, and nursing practitioners are the key in its optimized efficiency.

2. The research is qualitative, as it concerns the experiences of nurse practitioners and family physicians. Data were collected via interviews, and therefore revealed the subjective experiences of the professionals concerned. Whereas quantitative data are normally statistical in nature, qualitative data concern subjective experience. The researcher then draws conclusions based upon the answers provided by research participants.

This section of the study is qualitative in order to determine the positive and negative experiences of nursing professionals with collaboration. Such data can then be used in order to create strategies for improving current practices and collaboration schemes. In this way, subjective, experiential data play an important role in the improvement of human healthcare by improving the experiences of professionals.

3. The underlying purpose of the study includes exploration and prediction. In terms of the former, the current collaborative paradigm within healthcare, as involving nursing practitioners and family physicians, is explored for its effectiveness, efficiency, and the positive and negative experiences it creates for professionals and patients. Prediction occurs in terms of current practice and the possible implementation of new strategies.