Title: Investigating the retention and attrition rates of Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) in emergency care (EC) within the United Kingdom
Abstract:
This presentation will detail the motivation for this study as a background and include the findings from the literature review on the topic of Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACP) in Emergency Care (EC). ACPs are an integral part of the healthcare workforce across England, with the NHS recognising it as a priority for the future. ACPs within EC are often senior clinical decision makers that work within the multidisciplinary team to provide high quality care to a variety of patients, presentations and acuity. I work as a consultant level ACP and reflecting upon clinical practice over the last 7 years I have identified an issue with retention of experienced ACPs. Losing ACPs in a service that is already stretched for a variety of reasons, such as; increasing attendances to ED, longer waiting times and appropriate skill mix places burden on strained departments. To provide an evidence-base a scoping review was conducted. The first stage was to identify the research question and second stage was to identify the relevant studies. A literature review was conducted using key words. The next stage was study selection, 892 studies were identified. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria seven articles were charted and mapped to synthesize and interpret the data. No studies had been conducted with ACP’s. To collate, summarise and report the results analysis of the literature was conducted. Key themes included: a clear career pathway was integral; a structured training program and education reduced attrition rates; crowding and working conditions in EC results in burnout.
Keywords: Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Emergency Care, Retention, Attrition.
