Advanced nurse practitioner-led abdominal therapeutic paracentesis
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Advanced nurse practitioner-led abdominal therapeutic paracentesis

Neal Aplin Advanced nurse practitioner, ambulatory care, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Swindon, Wiltshire, England

Liver disease is a common cause of death in England and Wales, and ascites is associated with a 50% mortality rate. Most patients who present with ascites have underlying liver cirrhosis, and often require therapeutic paracentesis for symptomatic relief. This article describes a competency framework that was developed to enable advanced nurse practitioners to perform therapeutic paracentesis in an ambulatory care unit.

Emergency Nurse. 24, 10, 34-37. doi: 10.7748/en.2017.e1648

Correspondence

naplin@nhs.net

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 21 September 2016

Accepted: 30 November 2016

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