Nurse Practitioner Placement in A Nursing Home in Japan

This study aimed to clarify the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in a specialized nursing home for older adults in Japan. A retrospective medical chart investigation was conducted to compare the period before and after NP placement. Multilevel logistic regression analysis showed an increase in residents requiring care level 4 or higher (log odds ratio = 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12-1.31), a decrease in emergency outpatient visits (log odds ratio = -0.74; 95% CI, -1.13 to -0.34), and a significant interaction term between emergency visits and hospitalizations after NP placement (log odds ratio = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.27-1.81). Our findings suggest that the placement of NPs contributed to the appropriate utilization of health care resources. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).