Off-site expert support for nurses undertaking ECGs in primary care

Weatherburn, Gwyn, Ward, Stephen, Johnston, Glenis and Chisholm, Sally (2012) Off-site expert support for nurses undertaking ECGs in primary care. British Journal of Nursing, 18 (9). pp. 551-554. ISSN 0966-0461

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

One of the aims of the Department of Health is to respond to patient needs by considering how services can be delivered in more innovative ways, including more services being provided in primary care and increased activities being undertaken by nursing staff. These activities may have previously been undertaken by the GPs, or patients would be sent elsewhere, such as the local hospital, for tests/investigations. Some general practices are already using cardiac telemetry while others are awaiting feedback from system users before deciding whether to purchase services from independent providers. However, identifying how generalized results and predicted benefits will apply in a specific practice is not always straightforward. This article aims to assist the decision-making process by providing the results of an audit from eight general practices and two walk-in centres in which the electrocardiograms (ECGs) were already being undertaken by nurses. The results, which are shown for each centre, showed that the frequency of use varied between one and 27 per month, depending upon the practice. As a result of the 373 patients who had an ECG performed in practice, 76 had altered management decisions, 14 were saved hospital referral (11 of these from one walk-in centre), 18 were admitted to an acute hospital (10 from the same walk-in centre), and another 24 were referred to hospital for investigation.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	?? BucksNewUniversity ??
Depositing User:	ULCC Admin
Date Deposited:	23 Aug 2012 12:43
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2017 19:21
URI:	https://bnu.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/10043

Actions (login required)

Edit Item