The Development of an Advanced Practice Role in Emergency Nursing: insights from an Irish experience

The role of advanced nurse practitioner has been established in the emergency

department in St James’s Hospital for the last twelve years. The success of this role is

evident in the many achievements to date in terms of improvements in the quality of

service delivery, professional development and the replication and proliferation of the

role nationally. Testament to a high quality service is the satisfaction expressed by the

service users. The research outcomes and other quality outcome measures such as

improved consultation to discharge time and extended hours of service support the

expansion of the scope of practice to include more clinical conditions to the ANP

caseload. The development of the ANP service in the emergency department has paved

the way for other innovations in advanced nursing practice within St James’s Hospital

and in hospitals around the country. Emergency departments such as St James’s

Hospital, where the role of the ANP is well developed provide a model of good practice

and demonstrate the ethos of strong multidisciplinary.