Article Text
Abstract
Introduction The National Health Service currently faces significant challenges and must optimise effective workforce planning and management. There are increasing concerns regarding poor workforce planning for respiratory medicine; a greater understanding of the role of respiratory nurse specialists will inform better workforce planning and management.
Methods This was a survey study. Two surveys were administered: an organisational-level survey and an individual respiratory nurse survey.
Results There were 148 and 457 respondents to the organisational and individual nurse survey, respectively. Four main themes are presented: (1) breadth of service provided; (2) patient care; (3) work environment; and (4) succession planning. The majority of work conducted by respiratory nurse specialists relates to patient care outside the secondary care setting including supporting self-management in the home, supporting patients on home oxygen, providing hospital-at-home services and facilitating early discharge from acute care environments. Yet, most respiratory nursing teams are employed by secondary care trusts and located within acute environments. There was evidence of multidisciplinary working, although integrated care was not prominent in the free-text responses. High workload was reported with one-quarter of nursing teams short-staffed. Respiratory nurses reported working unpaid extra hours and a lack of administrative support that often took them away from providing direct patient care. Nearly half of the present sample either plan to retire or are eligible for retirement within 10 years.
Conclusions This survey report provides a current snapshot of the respiratory nurse specialist workforce in the UK. This workforce is an ageing population; the results from this survey can be used to inform succession planning and to ensure a viable respiratory nurse specialist workforce in future.
- respiratory care
- nursing
- quality of life
- self-management
- workforce
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Footnotes
Twitter @yorke_janelle @BTSrespiratory @ARNS_UK
Contributors JY and SP conceived the study idea; JY, SP, SE, MF, MH and CS developed the surveys; JY analysed results; all authors (JY, SP, MH, CS, HL, SB, MF and SE) contributed to data interpretation and manuscript preparation.
Funding This study was funded by a British Thoracic Society project grant. We are also grateful for contributions from: Allmiral, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, NAPP Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Orion Pharma and TEVA UK.
Competing interests Most of the authors known to me have worked alongside most for many years.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement Data may e-shared on request made to the corresponding author.