Community Parenteral Therapy Project: A pilot study

Abstract

The pilot study reported in this paper was devised to develop and compare servicedelivery models that would achieve the provision of high quality parenteral therapycare to patients in the Gold Coast District Health Service community. All data werecollected on 113 patients for a 12-month period, January to December 1996. Thestudy compared the provision of outreach nursing services and contracted nursingservices on measures of satisfaction and cost.The study showed that patient and carers indicated a preference for community care,medical officers advocated the benefits of administering parenteral therapies in thecommunity, general practitioners were interested in managing future communityparenteral therapies, and contracted (nurse) service providers endorsed the developmentof a parenteral therapy resource centre. The findings also revealed considerablepotential cost savings in community-based care.