“…Over the last few years the Australian Government has sought to identify initiatives that would produce a more sustainable and responsive health workforce, while maintaining a commitment to high quality and safe health outcomes (Productivity Commission, 2005) Advancing the nurse's role in general practice is one strategy that has been Various studies have investigated practice nurses' perceptions of their role. In the main, studies suggest that practice nurses perceive their role as being assistive and therefore practise accordingly (Bonawit & Watson, 1996;Dunt, Temple-Smith, & Johnson, 1991;Keyzer, Hall, Mahnken, & Keyzer, 1996;Patterson, Del Mar, & Najman, 1999a;Patterson, Del Mar, & Najman, 1999b). All of these studies suggested that the main functions of a practice nurse are delegated by the doctor and usually involve undertaking prescribed assessment and therapeutic activities (Dunt et al, 1991).…”