Abstract

Nurse practitioners have been in collaboration with physicians for several years. However, there is only a small percent who work in the emergency department. Due to an increasing population seeking primary care in the emergency department, the purpose of this research study was to identify the perceptions of nurse practitioners regarding the expanded practice in the emergency department. King's Theory of Goal Attainment was utilized as the theoretical framework for the study. The research question for this study was what are the perceptions of nurse practitioners regarding the role of expanded practice in the emergency department? The Scoggin Task Checklist consisting of 27 different tasks was used to identify which tasks were appropriate for the nurse practitioners to perform in the emergency department. This questionnaire determined the tasks that nurse practitioners perceived they could perform with or without physician collaboration and also identified what tasks are outside the nurse practitioner role. The questionnaire was mailed to 300 randomly selected practicing family nurse practitioners in the United States whose names were randomly selected by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Washington, D.C. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. Of the 300 mailed questionnaires, 180 (65%) were returned completed. Eleven of the tasks presented were perceived by a majority of the respondents as not in the nurse practitioner role or within the role of the nurse practitioner with the collaborating physician on-site. Responses also revealed that a majority of the respondents perceived 16 of the 27 tasks were within the nurse practitioner role for performance in the emergency department. These 16 tasks perceived within the role of the nurse practitioner were also identified as tasks which could be performed either without the collaborating physician onsite or without physician collaboration.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1993

Publication Number

27919794

First Advisor

Jeri England

Second Advisor

Lynn Chilton

Third Advisor

Joe E. Taylor

Document Type

Thesis

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