Community hospitals--the place of local service provision in a modernising NHS: an integrative thematic literature review

Background

Recent developments within the United Kingdom's (UK) health care system have re-awakened interest in community hospitals (CHs) and their role in the provision of health care. This integrative literature review sought to identify and assess the current evidence base for CHs.

Methods

A range of electronic reference databases were searched from January 1984 to either December 2004 or February 2005: Medline, Embase, Web of Knowledge, BNI, CINAHL, HMIC, ASSIA, PsychInfo, SIGLE, Dissertation Abstracts, Cochrane Library, Kings Fund website, using both keywords and text words. Thematic analysis identified recurrent themes across the literature; narrative analyses were written for each theme, identifying unifying concepts and discrepant issues.

Results

The search strategy identified over 16,000 international references. We included papers of any study design focussing on hospitals in which care was led principally by general practitioners or nurses. Papers from developing countries were excluded. A review of titles revealed 641 potentially relevant references; abstract appraisal identified 161 references for review. During data extraction, a further 48 papers were excluded, leaving 113 papers in the final review. The most common methodological approaches were cross-sectional/descriptive studies, commentaries and expert opinion. There were few experimental studies, systematic reviews, economic studies or studies that reported on longer-term outcomes. The key themes identified were origin and location of CHs; their place in the continuum of care; services provided; effectiveness, efficiency and equity of CHs; and views of patients and staff.

In general, there was a lack of robust evidence for the role of CHs, which is partly due to the ad hoc nature of their development and lack of clear strategic vision for their future. Evidence for the effectiveness and efficiency of the services provided was limited. Most people admitted to CHs appeared to be older, suggesting that admittance to CHs was age-related rather than condition-related.

Conclusion

Overall the literature surveyed was long on opinion and short of robust studies on CHs. While lack of evidence on CHs does not imply lack of effect, there is an urgent need to develop a research agenda that addresses the key issues of health care delivery in the CH setting.

Nurse-led models of chemotherapy care: mixed economy or nurse-doctor substitution?

AIM

This paper reports a study exploring the perspectives of people affected by cancer (service users) and health care professionals' about current medical consultant-led services and the acceptability of a proposed nurse-led ambulatory chemotherapy service.

BACKGROUND

A number of studies have evaluated a nurse-led model of cancer care delivery but little work has been undertaken in chemotherapy settings. Furthermore, many of these studies give little information on how the perspective of users was incorporated in the design and evaluation of these services.

METHODS

Service users (n = 26) and health care professionals (n = 22) were recruited across the South East of England. A qualitative study was undertaken... Using a semi-structured interview schedule, participants were asked to give their perceptions of current chemotherapy services and the potential of a nurse-led service. A thematic analysis of data was undertaken.

FINDINGS

This paper focuses on the theme of the current and future context of a chemotherapy service. Three sub-themes were identified: contextualizing roles, defining therapeutic outcomes, and demonstrating effectiveness. All interviewees saw this role as different but complementary to the role of medical staff. There were mixed opinions from service users and professionals on the acceptability of nurse-led chemotherapy provision. In defining potential outcomes of nurse-led care, service users described benefits in terms of service and economic outcomes. Professionals saw additional benefits in terms of patient-based outcomes. Professionals and service users expressed the need for appropriate education of nurses for this role and rigorous evaluation of any new service before widespread implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the perspective of users is imperative when re-designing cancer nursing services. Implementation of nurse-led models in chemotherapy services should be preceded by staff education and followed by systematic evaluation.

Opportunity for audit: establishing and monitoring the use of protocols for nurse-led treatments of minor injuries

During the last three years an integrated initiative has evolved in the casualty units of nine community hospitals in the Grampian region of Scotland. This has involved the development of nurse-led treatments for minor injuries based on a large number of assessment/treatment protocols. This paper describes how this change was used as an opportunity to initiate audit within clinical practice. Methods of auditing the use of the new protocols are detailed and baseline results are reported and discussed. In this way it is hoped that nurses involved in similar developments can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of this initiative.