Nurses sharing doctors' roles
Specially-trained nurses at Ninewells Hospital are now doing the same job as junior doctors, caring for high risk babies in the neonatal unit.
- By Marjorie Inglis, health reporter
- Published in the Courier : 02.04.10
- Published online : 02.04.10 @ 09.56am
The nurses are on the "doctors' rota", performing the same tasks as junior doctors doing a shift in the unit that cares for tiny infants that need help to survive.
Nurses are taking on enhanced roles in hospitals across Tayside and Fife, increasingly undertaking surgical procedures and other work previously the exclusive preserve of doctors.
Latest statistics published this week showed the number of attendances at nurse-led clinics in Tayside jumped from 43,215 in the year to the end of March 2006 to 71,365 in the year to the end of March 2009.
Fife also increased nurse-led clinic attendances from 15,983 in the year to March 2006 to 27,579 in the year to March 2009.
Nurses are now doing endoscopies, making internal inspections using tiny cameras on the end of flexible tubes — a procedure that until recently was exclusively undertaken by doctors.
They are also particularly active in Tayside's dermatology department where they remove "lumps and bumps", performing minor surgery in out-patient clinics.
Nurses also take responsibility for chemotherapy, delivering vital treatment to cancer patients and others in a way that just did not happen in the past.
NHS Tayside deputy chief executive Gerry Marr said giving nurses the chance to develop and enhance their skills had benefits for nurses, doctors and patients.
"It gives nurses a great opportunity to develop their career and makes their job more attractive," he said.
"We can recruit nurses to these jobs and retain them."
He said nurses taking on more advanced roles freed up time for consultants to concentrate on the more complex cases and develop their own higher level skills.
"Everyone is moving up the skill chain," said Mr Marr.
The deputy chief executive said there was also good evidence that nurse-led clinics improved patient satisfaction, because patients could be seen more quickly than if they were waiting to see a consultant.
The nurse-led clinics also helped to improve efficiency and the patients' experience in the hospital clinic.
