278 7. Australian Government (2009) Historic step forward for mid- wives and nurse practitioners. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr09-nr-nr087.htm. Accessed 21 Dec 2009 8. Jennings N, O’Reilly G, Lee G, Cameron P, Free B, Bailey M (2008) Evaluating outcomes of the emergency nurse practitioner role in a major urban emergency department, Melbourne, Australia. J Clin Nurs 17:1044–1050 9. Considine J, Martin R, Smit DV, Winter C, Jenkins J (2006) Emergency nurse practitioner care and emergency department patient flow: case-control study. Emerg Med Australas 18:385– 390 10. Lee GA, Jennings N (2006) A comparative study of patients who did not wait for treatment and those treated by Emergency Nurse Practitioners. Australas Emerg Nurs J 9:179–185 11. Bruce TA, Bowman JM, Brown ST (1998) Factors that influence patient satisfaction in the emergency department. J Nurs Care Qual 13:31–37 12. Pinkerton JA, Bush HA (2000) Nurse practitioners and physi- cians: patients’ perceived health and satisfaction with care. J Am Acad Nurse Pract 12:211–217 13. Tye C, Ross F, Kerry SM (1998) Emergency nurse practitioner services in major accident and emergency departments: a United Kingdom postal survey. J Accid Emerg Med 15:31–34 14. Chang E, Daly J, Hawkins A, McGirr J, Fielding K, Hemmings L, O’Donoghue A, Dennis M (1999) An evaluation of the nurse practitioner role in a major rural emergency department. J Adv Nurs 30:260–268 15. Sakr M, Kendall R, Angus J, Saunders A, Nicholl J, Wardrope J (2003) Emergency nurse practitioners: a three part study in clinical and cost effectiveness. Emerg Med J 20:158–163 16. Wilson K, Cameron P, Jennings N (2008) Emergency nurse practitioners: an underestimated addition to the emergency care team. Emerg Med Australas 20:453–455 17. Department of the Premier and Cabinet (2006) Council of Australian Governments’ meeting. 10 February 2006 Communi- que. http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/CA256D800027B102/Lookup/ COAGCommunique2006/$file/COMMUNIQUE2006.pdf. Accessed 21 Dec 2009 18. MTRP (2009) Medical Training Review Panel, 12th Report. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra Int J Emerg Med (2010) 3:271–278 19. Richardson DB, Mountain D (2009) Myths versus facts in emergency department overcrowding and hospital access block. Med J Aust 190:369–374 20. Shuler PA, Davis JE (1993) The Shuler nurse practitioner practice model: a theoretical framework for nurse practitioner clinicians, educators, and researchers, part 1. J Am Acad Nurse Pract 5:11– 18 21. Anderson NL (1978) An interactive systems approach to problem solving. Nurse Pract 3:25–26 22. St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (2009) Emergency medicine capacity assessment study. Final report to the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Health and Ageing. http://www.cpmec. org.au/files/EMCAS%20FINAL%20REPORT%20June%2011% 20%2009.pdf#EMCAS. Accessed 21 Dec 2009 23. Ritchie J, Spencer L (2002) Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In: Huberman AM, Miles MB (eds) The qualitative researcher’s companion. An expanded sourcebook, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 305–330 24. Laurant M, Reeves D, Hermens R, Braspenning J, Grol R, Sibbald B, (2005) Substitution of doctors by nurses in primary care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev Apr 18;(2):CD001271 25. Parliament of Australia (2009) Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 11 August 2009, no. 11, 2009–10, ISSN 1328-8091. doi: http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/ Pubs/bd/2009-10/10bd011.pdf. Accessed 21 Dec 2009 26. Richardson G, Maynard A, Cullum N, Kindig D (1998) Skill mix changes: substitution or service development? Health Policy 45 (2):119–132 Tracey J. Weiland is a Senior Research Fellow at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and The University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine. With abackground in health psychology she has spent the past 5 years working in thefield of emergency medicine as a researcher since obtaining her Ph.D. in 2004. She is astatistical consultant for the Elsevier journal Emergency Medicine Australasia and is asessional lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia. In addition to working in research, she is a practising psychologist in the private sector. In her research role, she ismentored by Prof. George Jelinek, the inaugural Professor of Emergency Medicine inAustralia.