Primary Care Practice Assistants FAQs
What is the Primary Care Practice Assistant (PCPAs) demonstration?
Health Workforce New Zealand in collaboration with Comprehensive Care (formally Comprehensive Health Services) has established a demonstration of the role of Primary Care Practice Assistant (PCPA). The new role aims to benefit patients by freeing up the time of GPs, managers and practice nurses.
Twenty students are being recruited to work as PCPAs across a variety of general practice settings in Waitemata PHO. The demonstration will develop the scope of practice for this role and test the sustainability of the role in the New Zealand context.
What is a PCPA and what do they do?
A PCPA works in the primary care setting undertaking a range of routine administrative and clinical tasks.
This demonstration will develop the scope of practice for this role and tasks undertaken by practice assistants will evolve as the project progresses. Likely tasks will include administrative and clinical work to support the primary care team ranging from assisting with nurse led clinics (immunisation, screening, diabetes), recording clinical measurements, treatment room preparation, and a variety of tasks as required.
All clinical tasks will be completed under the direction and delegation of a GP or practice nurse. Operating protocols will be developed appropriate to the role.
Why do we need this role?
Routine administrative and clinical tasks are taking up valuable time of both GPs and practice nurses. The introduction of this new role would see PCPAs trained to undertake these tasks instead allowing primary care practitioners to “work at the top of their licence”. With the ageing workforce and population, and the new demands of population health, the PCPA will be a valuable member of the primary care team.
What are the benefits of introducing PCPAs?
It is estimated that a full time practice assistant could free up to 5-15 hours per week of a GPs time and between 10-20 hours of a practice nurse’s time depending on how a practice is structured and assist in improving the work flow of the practice. This was established by experience to date of a number of practices who are employing assistants in similar roles.
The role would also provide enhanced career opportunities for people already working or interested in working in health including administrative staff and medical secretaries.
Do other health systems employ PCPAs?
The role of primary care practice assistants has been trialled in other countries including the United Kingdom. The aim of this demonstration is to determine the effectiveness of the PCPA role, a role specific to primary care in a New Zealand context.
Where are the PCPAs being recruited from?
Twenty students are being recruited for the training programme including some assistants and receptionists already working in primary care practices. The PCPAs will work across a variety of general practice settings in Waitemata PHO in Auckland.
What will the training programme for PCPAs involve?
The new role will be supported by a programme of academic and practice-based learning equivalent to a Level 4 and 5 (NZQA) course qualification.
Unitec Institute of Technology will deliver the Level 4 and 5 components of the practice-based learning, and AUT University will deliver the Level 5 papers.
Comprehensive Care will over-see the project with the practices providing the clinical learning environment. Practices will release PCPAs to attend the programme of study part-time over eighteen months. Academic work completed can also be cross-credited for future study toward a nursing or health science degree.
The practice-based learning involves linking learning to practice and developing skills including (not exhaustive):
- Practice organisation
- IT and PMS
- Clinical skills
- Professional interaction
- Cultural safety
- Law and ethics
- Professional boundaries and roles
- Interpersonal skills.
The L5 papers may include:
- Psychology and lifespan development;
- Health and environment
Who funds the training of the PCPAs?
As part of the demonstration HWNZ will fund the training package for the PCPAs up to 2013. Future sustainability of the role will be considered as part of the evaluation.
When will the demonstration start?
Twenty students are currently being recruited and will begin their tertiary learning in Semester 1, February 2012. Interim evaluations will be carried out during the demonstration with a final evaluation at the end of the two-year project in June/July 2013.
Are we likely to see this role in other settings?
The demonstration will trial the role in a number of different general practice settings, providing further information on how the role could be refined for rural/urban settings as well as meeting the needs of different age groups across the population.
How will the demonstration be monitored?
A multi-disciplinary steering group will oversee the demonstration and an independent evaluator will provide interim reports and a full evaluation on completion of the demonstration.
The full evaluation will determine the impact on the health workforce including assessment of efficacy and safety of the role and a cost-benefit analysis of introducing the role on a national scale. Specifically the evaluation will determine:
- the amount of professional time saved by GPs and practice nurses as a result of the new role being implemented;
- what additional services were provided by GPs and practice nurses as result, including advanced practice and additional numbers of patients seen;
- the level of patient understanding and acceptance of the practice assistant role; and
- sustainability of the role in the New Zealand context.