The role of the patient liaison nurse in the ambulatory care context of a Middle Eastern teaching hospital: a practice model
Date
2012-07-13
Authors
Bodrick, Mustafa Morris Elston
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The commencement of the role of patient liaison nurse (PLN) in the ambulatory care context of a Middle Eastern teaching hospital was an organizational response to patient care concerns during the site absence of physicians and the healthcare team. The PLN consequently evolved as a functional role of the registered nurse (RN) in ambulatory care nursing. The core research question asked was: how can a model be developed to describe the PLN role? The related topics for research included (i) the lived experiences of nurses in the functional role of the RN as PLN, (ii) what the nursing management team in the ambulatory care context considered as the functional role of the RN as PLN, (iii) the core and related concepts of the functional role of the RN as PLN, (iv) a conceptual framework to describe the PLN role, (v) the relational statements of the model that describes the functional role of the RN as PLN, (vi) the evaluation of the model, and (vii) formulation of guidelines for operationalization of the model. A qualitative process of scientific research inquiry followed two phases. The first phase included the research methods on the critical incident technique and reflective journaling to study the lived experiences of the PLN participants, and vignette responses that were used to investigate what nursing management respondents considered to be the functional role of the RN as PLN. The empirical results that emerged from the data analyses of the reflective journals and vignette responses were stated as conclusion statements of the emergent themes, and were used in phase two as the starting point for model development. The process of scientific inquiry concluded with an evaluation of the model, and the generation of guidelines for the operationalization of the model for patient liaison nursing in the ambulatory care context of a Middle Eastern teaching hospital.
Description
Ph.D., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011