Nurse consultant to day/child care centers

Purpose

Approximately 23.2 million children in the United States attend day care; however, many of these children often lack access to health care. Given the potential for advanced practice nurses to address this gap in health care, the authors sought to gain a better understanding of healthcare consulting provided by nurses to day/child care centers. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine the extent, range, and nature of evidence regarding the role of nurse consultants in day and childcare settings.

Design and methods

A scoping review was conducted in CINAHL and PubMed, to report and summarize relevant literature published before 2020. Search terms included day or child care, nurse consultants, healthcare consultants, and day or child care health consultants.

Results

The search produced 92 publications; 21 publications met the inclusion criteria and are included in the review. After independently reading the publications, the authors identified and agreed upon seven central themes. Themes included an analysis of the consulting process, description of the nurse consulting role in individual and large day and childcare settings, director's perceptions of health consultants, impact of nurse consultants, education and training, barriers to the healthcare consultant role, and political advocacy.

Practice Implications

Advanced nurse practitioner, particularly pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs), possess the skill set in acute and chronic conditions, as well as health maintenance and promotion that can be translated and used in the role of the nurse consultant to day and child care centers. Having PNPs in this role may help to address primary healthcare needs of children.