Abstract
BackgroundChanges to the workforce and organisation of general practice are occurring rapidly in response to the Australian health care reform agenda, and the changing nature of the medical profession. In particular, the last five years has seen the rapid introduction and expansion of a nursing workforce in Australian general practices. This potentially creates pressures on current infrastructure in general practice.MethodThis study used a mixed methods, ‘rapid appraisal’ approach involving observation, photographs, and interviews.ResultsNurses utilise space differently to GPs, and this is part of the diversity they bring to the general practice environment. At the same time their roles are partly shaped by the ways space is constructed in general practices.ConclusionThe fluidity of nursing roles in general practice suggests that nurses require a versatile space in which to maximize their role and contribution to the general practice team.
Highlights
Changes to the workforce and organisation of general practice are occurring rapidly in response to the Australian health care reform agenda, and the changing nature of the medical profession
The growth in general practice nursing has been facilitated by a number of Medicare rebates for nurse activity, incentives for rural practices and those in areas of workforce depletion to hire nurses [4], support from Divisions of General Practice [5,6], and the federal governments’ Nursing in General Practice Program
As practice teams and general practice nursing roles evolve, surgery design will need to take into account the many factors that we have considered here
Summary
Changes to the workforce and organisation of general practice are occurring rapidly in response to the Australian health care reform agenda, and the changing nature of the medical profession. The last five years has seen the rapid introduction and expansion of a nursing workforce in Australian general practices. This potentially creates pressures on current infrastructure in general practice. The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number of practice nurses in Australia, doubling between the years 2003 and 2007 to 7,824. Australian general practices are usually small businesses, geographically separate and with considerable structural diversity [3]. The rationale for providing these incentives was that nurses would solve health workforce shortages [7,8] and
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