Abstract
Background: Primary care at home is not a new idea, but rather a reinvention of an old and almost forgotten practice. Today, only 1% of primary care visits are provided in a home setting; despite the increasing aging homebound population in the United States. Current primary care at home research relates improved patient outcomes with primary care at home visits. Primary care at home is reemerging in the United States, but currently is not generating many positive reviews. There is a gap in the current primary care at home literature regarding nurse practitioner home visit practices and perceptions. Methods: A quantitative quasi-experimental study design was utilized for this study. The underlying researcher hypothesis was that primary care home visits are underutilized. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions, barriers, knowledge and practices of nurse practitioners (NPs) regarding home visits in primary care and to evaluate changes in perceptions and practices following an educational intervention. The sample chosen for this study was volunteer nurse practitioners attending two pharmacology update conferences. Ninety eight nurse practitioners were included in this convenience sample study. The data collection of this study occurred in three phases. The first and second phases of the study used a face to face approach. The third phase occurred approximately six weeks later via email. The analysis methods were cross tabulations and descriptive statistics. Results: The nurse practitioner participants in this study indicated that 27% had made a primary care home visit, thus supporting the hypothesis for this study. Fifty four percent indicated that they had not considered making a primary care at home visit. Forty three percent stated that they would be more likely to make or increase a home visit based on the educational intervention. Eighty five percent of initial study participants were aware that Medicare could be billed for
primary care home visit. Six percent of the Home Visit Implementation Post Survey participants indicated making primary care home visits since September 2013. Conclusions: The primary conclusion of this study was that primary care home visits are underutilized by nurse practitioner study participants. The findings from this study will add to the body of knowledge regarding nurses’ perceptions and practices of primary care at home. The researcher believes that by increasing awareness of benefits of primary care home visits; nurse practitioners will increase the amount of home visits being made. Ultimately, increasing access of primary care to homebound patients will improve their overall patient outcomes
Disciplines
Family Practice Nursing | Geriatric Nursing | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing
Recommended Citation
Bragg-Underwood, Tonya, "Primary Care at Home: Nurse Practitioners' Perceptions and Practices" (2014). Doctor of Nursing Practice Technical Reports. Paper 1.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dnp_tech_reports/1
Comments
committee chair Dr. Beverly Siegrist, faculty advisor Dr. Cathy Abell