Self-care of Canterbury general practitioners, nurse practitioners, practice nurses and community pharmacists
Caroline Christie 1 , Susan Bidwell 1 , Andrea Copeland 1 , Ben Hudson 11 Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
Correspondence to: Caroline Christie, Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd, PO Box 741, Christchurch 8140 (401 Madras Street, Christchurch 8013), New Zealand. Email: caroline.christie@pegasus.org.nz
Journal of Primary Health Care 9(4) 286-291 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC17034
Published: 13 October 2017
Journal Compilation © Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 2017.
This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Pastoral care is recognised as an important aspect of a mature primary care network. Pegasus Health is now in its 25th year and has had a formal Pastoral Care Programme for doctors since 2009.
AIM: This study aimed to collect local data on the self-care of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand) general practitioners (GPs), nurse practitioners (NPs), practice nurses (PNs) and community pharmacists (CPs).
METHODS: The survey was open to all participants in the Pegasus Small Group Education Programme in Canterbury. From a survey circulated to approximately 1100 primary care professionals, 504 responses were collected either electronically or as hard copies.
RESULTS: The themes that emerged were similar among all the health professional groups. A significant proportion of health professionals took minimal annual leave and even more worked while ill. CPs were the group with the highest rates in both these areas. Reasons given for this focused largely on a lack of locum cover.
DISCUSSION: Locum cover is a significant issue in Canterbury for all health professional groups in the study. The issue of locums is now being reviewed in Canterbury partly as a result of this study. Consideration is also being given to how the Pastoral Care Programme can be made more widely available.
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