Ambulatory care nursing. A new approach.

This article describes one hospital's experience with integrating inpatient and outpatient nursing services. Nursing services integration enabled nursing management to combine the nursing resources allocated to the inpatient and outpatient components of a clinical service under the direction of one nurse manager. This new and creative approach was implemented in thirteen clinical services at the Victoria General Hospital, Halifax. This organizational structure was considered to be an effective approach for managing ambulatory care nursing services. The introduction of integration facilitated a change in the ambulatory care nursing role. It also provided for increased continuity of patient care and afforded nurses the opportunity to practice in another setting. Nursing services integration is considered a more effective approach for managing nursing resources.