Archived Media Releases: 31 October 2008

Research shows nurse practitioners will improve the standard of health care in Australia

National and International research clearly shows the benefits nurse practitioners bring to health care, the Australian Nursing Federation said.

Ged Kearney, ANF Federal Secretary, said the comments made by the AMA about nurse practitioners were contradictory to national and international research.

The Cochrane review found that highly educated and appropriately qualified nurses produce the same high quality care as doctors and realise equivalent health outcomes for patients, and in addition they found patient satisfaction was higher with nurse-led care.i

Nationally, Jennings, et al showed that patients seen by emergency department nurse practitioners had significant reductions in waiting times and their length of stay in the emergency department was also reduced.ii

Ms Kearney questioned how nurse practitioners would lower the standard of care in Australia, when national and international evidence suggests the opposite is true.

“The burden of delivering excellent health care does not lay solely with doctors. There are many highly educated and qualified health care professionals already working collaboratively with doctors increasing the efficiency of the health system,” she said.

“At a time when Australia’s health system is facing increasing challenges, innovative health care delivery needs pioneers, not more of the same.”

i Laurant M, Reeves D, Hermens R, Braspenning J, Grol R, Sibbald B. Substitution of doctors by nurses in primary care. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD001271. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001271.pub2.
ii Jennings, N, O’Reilly G, Lee G, Cameron P, Free B & Bailey M (2008)  Journal of Clinical Nursing 17, 1044–1050

Media Contacts
Ged Kearney, Federal Secretary 0417 053 322
Lee Thomas, Assistant Federal Secretary, 0419 576 590
Libby Muir, Communications Officer, 0413 834 979

The ANF, representing nearly 170,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia.