Introducing the Advanced Nurse Practitioner Primary

Introducing the Advanced Nurse Practitioner Role to a Primary Care Setting in Saudi Arabia: A
Quality Improvement Project
Introducing the Advanced Nurse Practitioner Role to a Primary Care Setting in Saudi Arabia: A
Quality Improvement Project
Amaal Capstone Project Submitted for the Master of Science in Nursing: Advanced Practice
Month and Year of Submission

Introducing the Advanced Nurse Practitioner Role to a Primary Care Setting in Saudi Arabia: A
Quality Improvement Project
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background Information..................................................................................................................5
Purpose of the QI project.................................................................................................................6
Objective and Aim...........................................................................................................................6
Research Question...........................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introducing the Advanced Nurse Practitioner Role to a Primary Care Setting in Saudi Arabia: A
Quality Improvement Project
Introduction
The healthcare scheme in Saudi Arabia has not implemented the employment/ use of ANPs
to reduce the shortages experienced and meets the healthcare demands in the country
(ABoshaiqah 2015). Thus, the MOH needs to clearly define the different roles of nurses
(Hibbert, et al., 2017). Additionally, the number of hospitals and patients in the country is high,
against a small number of physicians, clinicians, and specialized nurse practitioners (Oliver, E.
2017). Consequently, the nursing shortage and lack of postgraduate specialist nursing education
are significant factors that contribute to the weak implementation of ANPs. Also, poor financial
and career incentives add to the small number of nursing specialists (Hibbert, Al-Sanea, and
Balens 2012).
The introduction of Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) in primary care settings leads to
improved patient care, increased patient safety, and continuous care and access to medical care
by patients (Kooienga and Carryer, 2015). That is, nursing practitioners are willingly working in
rural areas who only does require prime care providers (Barratt &Thomas, 2018). There are
likely to assist less privileged civilians with overall fewer costs. Most importantly, advanced
nurse practitioners will provide better quality just like physicians (Bergman et al, 2013). Patients
consider advanced nurses to be competent caregivers through high rates of reported patient
satisfaction (Swan et al, 2015). Additionally, the staff does express trust and confidence in
advanced nurse practitioners. Still, advanced nurse practitioners are able to deliver clinical
outcomes equivalent to GPS specifically when undertaking emergency home visits (McDonnell
et al, 2012). Thus, the introduction of ANPs has been identified as key to the future of primary
care, as the demand for medical services grows, due to an elderly populace and enlarged health
insurance coverage against the low number of general practitioners (Oliver, 2017).
There is an urgent call by healthcare policy leaders to reform the current strategies and
policies. The healthcare policymakers have realized that the provision of free services in public
health is an inefficient and unsustainable strategy. Thus, the introduction of ANPs has been
identified as key to the future of primary care, as the demand for medical services grows, due to
an aging population and increased health insurance coverage against the low number of general
practitioners (Oliver, 2017).
Advanced nursing care was first introduced globally in the 1960s to reduce the demand
for primary care physicians and to meet the healthcare needs of the rural populations (Kooienga