Abstract
Background
Patient enablement is a patient-centred concept reflecting a patient’s ability to
cope, understand and manage their own health. It can be used as a measure of the quality
of care and has been linked with improved patient outcomes. While there have been
studies into patient enablement following consultations with General Practitioners
(GPs) and practice nurses, Nurse Practitioners’ (NPs) role in enabling patients remains
unexplored.
Aim
To use the lens of enablement to explore patients’ lived experience of NP care in
a Primary Health Care (PHC) setting in Australia.
Methods
Using a qualitative approach, 12 patients who had consulted an NP in PHC participated
in unstructured interviews. An interpretative phenomenological approach was used to
inform the study. A secondary analysis was conducted to explore possible synergies
and resonance between the data and the constructs of the Patient Enablement Instrument
(PEI).
Findings
This small qualitative study found that, following consultations with NPs in PHC,
patients reported personal approaches and behaviours consistent with enablement. Three
key existential themes appeared to contribute to patient enablement: the way NPs used
consultation time (temporality), the building of partnerships between NPs and patients
(relationality) and through NPs’ holistic and hands-on consultation approach (corporality).
The effective use of time in the consultation was seen as particularly important.
Conclusion
The findings from this study suggest consultations with NPs do enable patients. This
is a previously undocumented strength of NP care. Further research, using a variety
of settings, methods and patient and health care provider populations, is recommended.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 23, 2017
Accepted:
June 13,
2017
Received in revised form:
April 6,
2017
Received:
December 16,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
