Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Issue: There is a need to generate evidence to inform the integration and optimization of nursing within primary care across Canada. In contrast to acute care, literature examining nursing effectiveness in primary care is sparse. The Nursing Role Effectiveness Model (a structure-process-outcome model of quality care) may serve to assist with the challenging task of outcome measurement within a multidimensional primary healthcare environment. However, there has yet to be a critical review of the literature examining the use of the model in healthcare. Therefore, a scoping review was conducted to explore the utility of the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model in evaluating nursing contributions to patient outcomes, with a particular emphasis on primary care . Methods: Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology was utilized. Results: The Nursing Role Effectiveness Model has a strong theoretical foundation and some empirical support for its use in the evaluation of outcomes related to nursing care. Only a few studies have validated relationships within the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model, mainly within the acute care and long-term care setting. Several studies used the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model to guide the development of expected relationships between variables. No research discussed the application of the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model within the primary care setting. Conclusions: Although nurses are well positioned to influence patient outcomes within primary care, the unique contributions of nurses to patient outcomes have yet to be firmly established within this setting. One of the barriers hindering this evaluation is the lack of a comprehensive model that can be used as a framework to guide such studies. Given the success of the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model within other healthcare settings, it is likely that this model will be useful in the development of studies assessing similar relationships in primary care.