Using referral guidelines to support best care outcomes for patients.

Abstract

District nurses play a pivotal role in individuals’ care pathways by meeting their needs in the community. However, district nurses are frequently referred patients for whom other inter professional colleagues have more suitable skills to help in achieving their optimum care outcome. Various major reports have identified a clear need to define what district nurses do and how they will respond appropriately to patients’ needs. However, there remains only tacit understanding of district nurse referral criteria across the country and within community organizations. This article discusses how a set of facilitative district nurse referral guidelines have been devised to support individuals in achieving their best care outcome. We also debate approaches to managing referrals to district nursing services and the pressing need to ensure these are effectively managed in practice.