Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea said today that the road of nurses needed to be broadened and nurses could and should assume roles traditionally held by General Practitioners.
The issue of 'role substitution' needed to be further discussed, Mr Galea said at the conclusion of the 6th Primary Health Conference. The conference discussed 'Developing Nursing Roles in Primary Health Centre Care.'
Mr Galea said the need to develop the role of nurses was an issue that could no longer be ignored, and this issue was crucial to any restructuring process in care provision.
In the local context, the role of nurses working in the Primary Health Care sector was limited, Mr Galea said. Patient assessments and related decision making were mostly within the role of GPs. Yet there were developments in this area, such as the establishment of the 'Health Awareness Clinics' where health needs assessments are carried out by nurses. However, decisions making, central to these assessments, such as those related to screening tests, were still within the role of the GP.
Galea believes that the need for further nursing developments in the Primary Health Care sector can no longer wait. Ways by which these developments could best be implemented need to be studied, taking into account the foreign context.
Nurses were academically and clinically prepared to assume more specialized and autonomous roles, Mr Galea insisted. But they also need to be psychologically prepared to assume such roles. People should be prepared to accept the fact that they would be cared for by nurses.
It is thus imperative that such a change was well planned and done gradually, Mr Galea said.
He referred to the World Health Organization (1998) document 'Family Health Nursing' and said the nurses within this role provided counselling, support and home care to a limited number of families.
A good step towards this direction was the establishment of the CommCare unit, whereby nurses visited and assessed patients in the community, identifying needs and performing the required referrals and follow ups. These nurses now formed part of a multi-disciplinary team which aimed at giving integrated, holistic care to patients.
Galea pointed out that he had recently set up an Elderly Community Outreach Team Its aim is to support the Elderly in the community. It is composed of a Multi Disciplinary Team.
He acknowledged that the implementation of extended nursing roles may seem challenging. Yet this should be the way forward to ensure accessible and affordable good quality care, allowing GPs and specialists more time to dedicate to more complicated and specialized care.