Patients' and healthcare professionals' perceptions of advanced practitioners in emergency medicine: a service evaluation.

Advanced practitioner (AP) roles have been promoted as a way of expanding NHS workforce capacity and supporting sustainable service delivery. Evidence shows that APs can enhance clinical practice, improve team performance and increase service efficiency while maintaining high patient satisfaction, although there remains confusion about the role among the public and healthcare professionals. This article describes a service evaluation that sought to assess the impact of APs working in the 'acute medical take' (the process for receiving, assessing and treating patients who require emergency, non-surgical hospital admission) in one hospital in England from the perspectives of patients ( n =50) and healthcare professional colleagues ( n =50). Patients and colleagues were asked to complete two different questionnaires. The results indicate that both patients and colleagues have positive perceptions of the medical take APs, with high levels of confidence in and acceptability of care reported by patients. Colleagues consistently rated the APs' performance as 'above expectation' or 'meets expectation' with regards to clinical care and interprofessional relationships. Overall, the results support the important role of APs in enhancing patient experience, multidisciplinary team functioning and service delivery in emergency medicine.