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Practice nurses should be given greater autonomy and a proper career and payment structure to attract and retain more nurses in general practice, a study has concluded.

The Australian National University study recommends changes to the Medicare payment scheme to enable practice nurses to see patients for health promotion, chronic disease management and treatment of minor illness without prior involvement with a GP.

The systematic review funded by the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute is one of nine papers to examine options to attract doctors and nurses into general practice. The Institute notes general practice as one of the ...