What is primary health care nursing?

Primary health care is any medical service that is provided outside the four walls of a hospital, including general practice, aged care, schools, community health and other primary health care settings. Primary health care nurses play a critical role in keeping people healthy, providing proactive care and health promotion to keep Australians well.

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Locations and facilities

Plan where, when and how your clinic will operate.

Think about your nurse clinic’s space
Determine when and where your clinic will open, and for how long
Understand your need for any specialist equipment

The clinic space

Will there be a regular room allocated to the nurse clinic on the day of your clinic? This will be one of the points of negotiation when you first plan your clinic.

Other factors that will impact on the operations of your clinic include:

accessible car parking
disability and wheelchair access
identification of equipment required
design to ensure patients confidentiality
ensuring auditory and visual privacy
safety-related issues such as adequate lighting, controlled ambient temperature
availability of height adjustable bed

"When I first started, there was never a question that I would have a room; it was which room is it going to be?"

Clinic operating hours

You will need to determine the clinic day and time; this has a huge impact on budget projections, community clinical outcomes, and much more. You may decide to run it every day at a set time. Alternatively, you may decide to integrate the clinic into you daily work.

You may need to consider:

maximising patient throughput
being flexible to reach your target audience
staffing and resourcing availability

You will also need to decide how long appointments will be. These may need to be adjusted as you start to see patients and have a better understanding of the average length of time it takes to see each person. If you plan to operate your clinic after business hours, contact your local council to make sure there are no restrictions or zoning issues.

Equipment and resources

Equipment that may be needed for a nurse clinic includes:

access to patient records, practice software, a clinical audit tool, phone and printer
appropriate clinical equipment, for example, for measuring height and weight, blood pressure, and access to emergency resuscitation equipment
ample hand washing and sterilisation facilities
education and demonstration equipment such as puffers and spacers