he role of consultant to other health care professionals may be expected (Krywanio, 1994, pp. 47-50).
The Role of the Nurse Practitioner As A Manager
In the 1990s, the nurse managed clinic frequently serves as a focal point for primary health care (Reifsteck & D'Angelo, 1990, pp. 12-21). As a focal point, the nurse managed clinic is the hub through which all health care services for patients may be arranged. Within this context, the assumption of additional responsibilities by nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists has been found to be effective in the combined context of cost containment and improving care quality (Manion, 1991, pp. 18-21).
The two major factors involved in the rising role of nurse managed clinics in the delivery of health care services to indigent persons are accessibility and cost. Nurse managed clinics are frequently sited where indigent people reside and where more traditional health care delivery venues are either not available or are in short supply. Nurse managed clinics are also able to delivery health care services at costs that are well below those associated with most of the more traditional health care service providers (Sharp, 1992b, pp. 30-32). Such clinics are strongly supported by government.
The growing need for home health care services is one area in which the opportunity for marketing nursing services exists (Keating & Kelman, 1988, pp. 56-58). Another contemporary trend is toward ambulatory treatment, as opposed to treatment an a in-patient in a hospital (Stockwell, 1994, pp. 5-17). Many hospitals have or are establishing clinics managed by professional nurses to provide much of this ambulatory care. These clinics, which are established both within hospital facilities and in communities, offer another avenue for the marketing of nursing services to consumers. The free-standing clinic managed by a nurse practitioner is yet another avenue through which nursing servic...