Advanced Practice Nurses’ Experiences of Using Advanced Practice Competence in Community Healthcare
Ådel Bergland, Adelheid Hummelvoll Hillestad, Elisabeth Østensen, Marie Hamilton LarsenIntroduction
Advanced practice nurse roles are considered essential for securing access to necessary healthcare services and enhancing service quality. Although such roles have been introduced in Europe and the Scandinavian countries, there is limited knowledge about how advanced nursing competencies are utilized within community healthcare services in these countries.
Objective
To explore the experiences and reflections of newly educated advanced practice nurses regarding their application of advanced practice competencies within Norwegian community healthcare.
Methods
A longitudinal qualitative explorative design was employed, following a group of master’s students from the start of their education until one year after graduation. Focus group interviews were conducted at their graduation in June 2023, and individual interviews were conducted one year after graduation in May and June 2024. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis was performed.
Results
Thirteen participants took part, including two leaders. Participants described having a strong commitment to improving community healthcare through advanced clinical assessment and proactive care planning. Their enhanced assessment competence supported early identification of patient deterioration and informed immediate and future care needs. Participants emphasized that a comprehensive understanding of healthcare services requires a shared clinical language facilitating collaboration with general practitioners, and that a strong focus on developing team competence was essential for ensuring quality care.
Conclusion
Participants described providing person-centred care through direct and remote patient engagement and by developing the competence of healthcare teams, highlighting their perception thay they have an important role in improving quality, coordination and organizational capacity within community healthcare services.