Committee Chair

Anderson, Barbara K.

Committee Member

Ch'ien, Anne; Wertenberger, Dana

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 purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to examine the acceptance of an Appalachian community's acceptance of a family nurse practitioner in the emergency department.A conceptual framework of leek Ajzen(1988) was used to predict the acceptance of a family nurse practitioner in the emergency department from a sample of participants in a community.Subjects (n=109) from a sample in Maryville, Tennessee who were shopping at Wal-Mart® were used in this study.A tool in which acceptance was acknowledged was used, and yes and no answers were seen as acceptance or nonacceptance.Descriptive statistics suggest that the sample overall was accepting of the tasks listed on the tool that nurse practitioners could perform in the emergency department setting. Frequencies and percentages showed no score lower than 73% on the acceptance scale of the survey.Four out of the ten tasks listed on the tool scored 90% or better for acceptance in having the skill delivered by a nurse practitioner in the emergency department.Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized to determine if a significant correlation exists between the demographic variables of age, educational level,occupational level,gender and acceptance of care by the family nurse practitioner in the emergency department.The relationship between age and acceptance of care approached significance.Additional data of intent was obtained in the research process, but was recorded as additional findings.Pearson correlation coefficient determined that there was a significant relationship between the educational levels of the participants and the intent to be seen by a family nurse practitioner in the emergency department.This research study suggests that this particular sample of participants was accepting of care that would be delivered by a family nurse practitioner in the emergency department.This research study does not make inferences that this population is representative of the all emergency department consumers.This study can suggest that the Southeastern Appalachian community under investigation was accepting of care that would be delivered by a family nurse practitioner in the emergency department.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who provided me with support and encouragement throughout this research.I would like to thank my thesis committee chairperson,Dr. Barbara Andersen, for her assistance and time.I would like to thank Dr. Dana Wertenberger for her assistance in statistics.I would also like to thank associate professor, Anne Ch'ien,for her assistance and her encouragement, not only with this research but throughout the graduate program.A special thank-you goes to Dr. Maria Smith for her expertise,patience, and guidance.Dr. Smith's interest, concern, and expertise made improvement and completion of this thesis possible.A special thank-you is given to those outside the School of Nursing who contributed to this study:Debbie Mills, Bryan Rowell, Christy Lawson, and Eric Lawson for their friendship, assistance, encouragement,and love throughout this research and my graduate studies.A thank-you is given to the Blount County Explorers Post #683 for their assistance and enthusiasm in the collection of the data.

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

5-1999

Subject

Nurse practitioners--Public opinion; Emergency nursing--Public opinion; Community health services--Appalachian Region; Health services accessibility--Tennessee--Maryville

Discipline

Public Health and Community Nursing

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 51 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .R684 1999

Rights

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

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