The Roles of the Nurses in Family Physician Team: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Abtin Heidarzadeh; Mehdi Alvandi; Bita Hedayati; Mostafa Rezaei; Farshid Abedi; Zahra Hamidi Madani; Somayeh Noori Hekmat; Ideh Dadgaran; Roksana Mirkazemi

doi:10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_244_22

The Roles of the Nurses in Family Physician Team: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2023 Jul 24;28(4):361-370. doi: 10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_244_22. eCollection 2023 Jul-Aug.

Authors

Abtin Heidarzadeh¹, Mehdi Alvandi², Bita Hedayati³, Mostafa Rezaei⁴, Farshid Abedi⁵, Zahra Hamidi Madani⁶, Somayeh Noori Hekmat⁷, Ideh Dadgaran⁸, Roksana Mirkazemi⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Science and Health Services, Rasht, Iran.
² Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
³ Farzanegan Nik Andish Institute for the Development of Knowledge and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Deputy of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁵ Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Research Center, Birjand, Iran.
⁶ Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Al-Zahra Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
⁷ Management and Leadership in Medical Education Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
⁸ Medical Education Research Center, Education Development Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
⁹ Founder and Managing Director of Farzanegan Nik Andish Institute for the Development of Knowledge and Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: There are various approaches in primary health care regarding the key role of nurses. This systematic review investigates the roles of nurses, as part of the family medicine team.

Materials and methods: All published articles related to the role of nurses in the family medicine team from January 2000 to March 2022 were the subjects of this study. The eligibility criteria included original articles published in English or Persian in the last two decades. International credible scholarly databases (PubMed, Scopus, Magiran, IranMedex, and SID) were searched using keywords and syntax. Some of the keywords included "Family Health Nurse," "Nurses in Primary Care," "Family Medicine," "Family Physician Care Program," "General Physician Program," "Role," and "Nurse." Data were extracted based on Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type (SPIDER) technique and reported based on the structure of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).

Results: Of 147 identified publications by the search strategy, eight eligible empirical studies were included. The results showed that besides providing nursing care, nurses play vital roles in communication and teamwork, assessment, securing health services relevant to communities' needs, education, empowerment, clinical practice, health promotion, prevention, reflective research practice, and counseling.

Conclusions: This study identified different roles nurses could play in providing primary health care. These findings are helpful for the replanning or reform of primary health care in countries, which aimed to expand the Family Physician Program (FPP) in their countries, including Iran.

Keywords: Health plan implementation; health systems plans; nurses; patient care team; public health.

Publication types

Review