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Where Does Practice Nursing Fit in Primary Health Care?
Merilyn Annells
Professor of Community Nursing, La Trobe University, VIC; Research Consultant to Royal District Nursing Service South Australia Inc.
Abstract
Practice nursing is an integral and growing part of primary health care internationally and increasingly within the Australian health care system. The potential for practice nursing being considered as a specialty of community nursing, boundary issues in community nursing, and defining characteristics of practice nursing as a model of community-based nursing are discussed in this paper. As the author has worked as a practice nurse, personal reflections on the evolving practice nurse role are provided.
Practice nursing is a dynamic entity and will continue to evolve in the primary health care setting. In order for practice nursing to meet the primary health care agenda, there is a need to incorporate a social model of health with the medical model of health and to promote research and scholarship to support this goal.
Keywords
practice nursing, community nursing, general practice, primary health care, health promotion, health education
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