Do Advanced Nurse Practitioners provide care equivalent to Junior Doctors? Perceptions and attitudes of staff on an acute general ward

Aim: To present a proposal for research which will examine whether Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP’s) provide equivalent care to Junior Doctors within a general ward setting. Background: Recent years have seen the development of ANP roles within the UK, in response to a reduction in the number of doctors and the re-shaping of services to meet the complex needs of today’s health care system. Despite evidence that the ANP role is increasingly being adopted as an alternative to doctors, there is a lack of research examining whether patients are receiving care from ANP’s which is equivalent to that provided by doctors. This is particularly true of ward based ANP’s, who are often over looked in research studies. Literature review: To identify existing research relevant to this issue, CINAHL, Medline, Cochrane, Google scholar, One search and EBSCOhost databases where searched and a literature review undertaken. Proposal: A research proposal was developed which aims to address gaps in current research and provide further insight into whether ANP’s provide equivalent care to junior doctors in a general ward setting. Conclusion: ANP’s can have a positive impact on patient outcomes and successfully undertake some of the tasks traditionally fulfilled by doctors. More research into whether ANP’s can provide equivalent care to junior doctors in a general ward setting is required