Acquired brain injury nurse-led clinic: roll out, review and referral

Abstract

Aim: This paper documents the introduction of a nurse-led outpatient clinic for patients post acquired brain injury (ABI). Nurse-led clinics in primary care settings have been widely acclaimed as a positive step towards improving access to investigations and specialist services, and offering a solution towards limited clinician resources. Method: A retrospective analysis was undertaken to review the ABI nurse-led clinic service over a 12-month period. This analysis reviewed how the clinic has impacted the hospital in terms of hours saved by the neurosurgical consultant clinic by the patient attending the nurse-led clinic. This paper also looks at how the clinic benefits the patient by timely access to the ABI clinical nurse specialist along with referrals and review by community-based rehab services, Headway Ireland and ABI Ireland. Findings: Through the review of the ABI clinic over a 12-month period, 47 hours were saved from the consultant led clinics. It was also found that 30% of patients reviewed in the ABI clinic were now in an appropriate ABI community support service. Conclusion: The audit shows that the ABI nurse-led clinic benefits the patient is terms of timely review and follow-up after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The patient also has early access to specialist TBI follow-on services, which enhances recovery and overall quality of care. The nurse-led clinic also benefits the organisation by reviewing and following up on patients who would have previously have been reviewed at the consultant-led clinics, therefore, reducing waiting times.