Expanding the role of nurses in primary care in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract EN

Objective : Describe the potential of a wider role of nurses in the provision of primary medical care in Bahrain.

Design : Two stage Cross-sectional study.

Setting : East Riffa Health Centre – Kingdom of Bahrain Methods : This is a cross-sectional descriptive study based on a project conducted in East Riffa Health Centre in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Two nurses were chosen to lead the nurse led clinic.

The sample of the study was those who attended the health centre during the study period and came to take appointments after 12 mid day during work hours.

The project started in July 2003 and continued for six months ending in December 2003.

The participating nurses recorded the age, sex, reason for attendance, examinations conducted, tests ordered, treatment given and the management of all patients who were seen in the filtering room.

Results : A total of 4, 051 patients were seen in the first month of the project (July 2003) in the health centre of which 503 (12.4 %) were first seen by the nurses.

A similar figure obtained in the last month of the study (December 2003) with total patients of 3, 990, but with a slight increase in the proportion seen by the nurses first (13.6 %).

Majority of the cases seen in the filtering room were managed and discharged by the nurses.

The proportion increased from 75.7 % in the first month to 80.8 % in the last month.

A random 100 patients that were treated by nurses were asked about their satisfaction levels with the treatments provided to them.

In the first month 79 % stated that they were satisfied.

The proportion increased to 83 % in the last month.

Ironically, for those patients who were treated by doctors only 54 % and 61 % stated that they were satisfied in the first and last month respectively.

Conclusion : Nurses in primary care are underutilized yet they have the skills and knowledge to manage a sizable portion of the cases seen in primary care settings.

Higher utilization should have the effect of using resources more properly and improve the quality of care provided by primary care professionals.