Nurse practitioners attitudes toward protocols.

The Nurse Practitioner Pilot Project was enacted in 1979 by the legislature of the State of Utah. The Project authorizes nurse practitioners associated with a physician and guided by approved protocols to prescribe medications for a three year pilot period. The overall goal of the project was to study the accuracy, prescribing medication using established protocols as guidelines for patient care. This research investigated the attitudes of the Nurse Practitioner Pilot Project participants toward the approved protocols. The literature abounds with opinions of Nursing; professionals listing the advantages and disadvantages of protocol use, however only one attitude survey regarding the use of protocols to guide patient care was found. Grim et al., 1975 found physicians to be less favorable regarding protocol use to guide clinical practice than the nurse practitioners or physicians assistants. All nurse practitioner participants in the Pilot Project were mailed a questionnaire and asked to rank 30 attitude items on a scale of 1 thru 7 with t anchors: strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree and strongly agree. Forty-four respondents returned the questionnaire, a response rate of 72%. Generally the sample population believed protocols were negative in guiding health care practice. Protocols were believed to decrease time spent with clients, promote dehumanization of care and imply superficial thinking. The respondents did not want protocols mandated by law nor were standards of care believed to be assured with protocol use. Certain variables tempered the negative attitude. Specifically, however more favorable attitudes were reported from the nurse practitioner participants with more practitioner experience and the respondents who had prior experience with protocols.