Committee Chair

Anderson, Barbara K.

Committee Member

Holder, Pam; Ch'ien, Anne

Department

Dept. of Nursing

College

College of Health, Education, and Professional Studies

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The concept of the advanced practice nurse was first conceived in the 1960s in an effort to provide patients with adequate primary health care. Changes in the health care delivery system since that time have facilitated this role. The past ten years has seen an increasing number of physicians utilizing nurse practitioners (NPs) in their practices.As physicians consider this alternative, they are interested in knowing how their patients will accept this change.Review of the literature regarding the health care consumer's acceptance of the NP as a health care provider revealed that the majority of the research, thus far, has been accomplished with the medically underserved populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between consumer knowledge and intention to use a NP in an urban community that is not medically underserved.Imogene King's theory of goal attainment was used to guide the study. King desribes her theory as being the only one to deal with choices, alternatives and participation of all individuals in making decisions about their health care.While visiting three local businesses in May, the participants filled out a researcher-generated questionnaire that assessed their knowledge and intention of using a NP. Thirty-six percent answered yes to all nine knowledge questions with 42% indicating they would be willing to use a NP for all nine inquiries. Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized to determine that there was a significant positive relationship between knowledge of the role of the NP and intent to use one as a health care provider. The conclusion was reached that as knowledge of the role of the NP increases so does intent to use one.The data also revealed a knowledge deficit regarding the role of the NP among this population.

Acknowledgments

My love and appreciation to my children, Chris, Pam and Ted(my reasons for living);my daughters-in-law, Heather and Sara,and to my grandchildren,Emily and Hayden,for their encouragement and support during the past 2 1/2 years while trying to work and attend school.My gratitude and appreciation to Dr.Charlie Barnett,a very special physician,friend and mentor,to whom I will be forever indebted.A very special thank you to Diana Stimpson and Jody Stafford, two of my nursing colleagues and special friends. I cannot omit Reagan and Louise (my dog and cat), who have been by my side throughout the long nights of burning the midnight oil. Much appreciation to the chainnan of my committee,Dr.Barbara Andersen,for her perceptive advice and suggestions and also to Dr.Pam Holder and Professor Anne Ch'ien, the other two members ofmy committee, for their assistance and interest in my thesis. A special thank you is extended to Dr.Maria Smith for assistance with the statistical portion of this thesis.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

12-1998

Subject

Nurse practitioners--Public opinion; Primary care (Medicine); Health planning--Citizen participation

Discipline

Public Health and Community Nursing

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

x, 65 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .P374 1998

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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