Advanced Practice Nursing at the Primary Level of Healthcare Provided to a Mother and Infant Population in Villa Clara Province, Cuba

Abstract

Introduction: Advanced nursing practice presents an expanded scope that seeks to respond to patient problems in a specific clinical area.
Objective: To identify, from among the functions declared as advanced practice at the international level, those performed by the nursing personnel in mother and infant care at the first level.
Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out in Villa Clara, Cuba, between February and December 2021. The study universe was made up of 671 graduates. Through probabilistic sampling with 95 % of reliability, a sample was selected, consisting of 326 nurses working in the 35 polyclinics of the province and in charge of the Mother and Infant Care Program. An advanced practice nurse role delineation instrument was applied. The calculations were made corresponding to the average number of functions grouped by domains, standard deviation, and the coefficient of variation between its items; as well as Cronbach's alpha and an index establishing a correlation between the items for measuring the internal consistency of the scale by dimensions and globally.
Results: All the domains are above the indicator established for each dimension accrediting it as advanced practice. No domain was found with a low index; all six maintained a validity and reliability above 0.5. The internal consistency obtained using Cronbach's alpha was high.
Conclusions: The internationally recognized advanced practice functions are performed by the nurses, included in the study as part of their daily practice, since the different domains of the instrument reached values above the established indicator.