Establishing a minor illness nurse in a busy general practice

BMJ 1995;310:778-780 (25 March)

General practice

Establishing a minor illness nurse in a busy general practice

G N Marsh, general practitioner,^a M L Dawes, practice nurse ^a

^a Norton Medical Centre, Norton, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland TS20 1AN

Correspondence to: Dr Marsh.

Abstract

Objective: To study the feasibility of a practice nurse caringfor patients with minor illnesses.
Design: Nurse given training in dealing with patients with minorillnesses. Patients requesting a same day appointment were offereda nurse consultation.
Setting: Group practice in Stockton on Tees.
Main outcome measures: Number of consultations which requireda doctor contact, treatment, and rate of reconsultation.
Results: Of 696 consultations in six months, 602 (86%) requiredno doctor contact. 549 (79%) patients did not reconsult aboutthat episode of illness, and 343 (50%) patients were given adviceon self care only.
Conclusion: Trained nurses could diagnose and treat a largeproportion of patients currently consulting general practitionersabout minor illness provided that the nurse has immediate accessto a doctor.

Key messages

Key messages
A nurse was trained to deal with such patients by sitting in on the duty doctor's surgery
The nurse managed 86% of patients without contact with the doctor; half required a prescrip- tion signing
Half of patients required only advice on self care, and 79% did not reconsult
Practice nurses could successfully manage many patients requesting same day appoint- ments with their general practitioner

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