Belinda Caldwell, APNA
 General practice nurses (GPNs) are the fastest growing area of nursing, providing an increasingly key element of the care provided in general practice. There are currently over 6000 nurses in general practices and approximately 60% of general practices have at least one nurse, with the average being 2.7 nurses per practice.
The Australian Practice Nurses Association (APNA) has undertaken an annual Salary and Conditions Survey for the last four years which demonstrates that the role of the GPN and the contribution of nurses to the range of care being provided in general practice is changing rapidly. The increasing burden of chronic disease and GP workforce shortages has created a demand for GPN services across a range of areas, from preventative areas such as screening (cervical screening, health checks, STD counselling and others), immunisation and lifestyle advice to chronic disease management and wound management.
Thirty percent of APNA members now run a nurse-led clinic which is a significant increase on three years ago. Other roles nurses may undertake include triage, plaster casting and suturing, health promotion, child health, continence management and the list goes on. For many of these areas, the funding system creates significant barriers to implementation and the APNA is lobbying hard for practices to be able to implement flexible approaches to providing high quality nursing care for their patients.
Many nurses are the first nurse the general practice has ever had and for many nurses, the role is their first as a GPN. The result is a huge need for professional development and development of policies and procedures for this growing workforce. The Federal Government has recognised this and since 2001 has invested significant funding into supporting the evolution of this workforce through APNA and Divisions of General Practice for education and training support, recruitment support and support for some professional issues such as development of competency standards.
Research using GPNs has flourished in the last few years but as yet the agenda has not been set by the profession and remains uncoordinated. APNA would like a nationally coordinated approach to research into the current and future contributions GPNs can make to quality patient care.
Belinda Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Practice Nurses Association
E: belinda.caldwell@apna.asn.au
W: www.apna.asn.au
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