All Entries Tagged With: "nurse practitioner"
Bright ideas: Hospital-based training for NPs and PAs
Nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) have traditionally practiced in the outpatient setting, but they are increasingly making their way into hospital-based medicine. Educational programs are still catching up with the trend, but there are some great ways for NPs and PAs to gain inpatient experience.
In an interview I did recently with Laura Rosenthal, MSN, ACNP, she told me about the nurse practitioner fellowship that the hospitalist medicine service at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center launched in January. Currently, one NP is participating, and the program has received a couple dozen more resumes from all over the country.
Looking for a NP or PA to join your hospitalist practice?
Inviting nurse practitioner (NP) or physician assistant (PA) students onto your hospitalist team is a great way to recruit a strong staff, says Allan Platt, PA-C, MMSc, a faculty member at Emory University School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program. “I think having students on board is a no-risk way to recruit PAs,” he said in a recent interview.
By inviting students to train with your program, you have the opportunity to introduce them to the hospitalist’s role and teach them about practicing in a hospital setting. This is important because most NP and PA programs focus on outpatient, clinic-based care. Students that do a good job and make a good fit for the program’s culture can potentially walk right into a job after graduation.
Patients confused about NPs and PAs practicing in hospitalist programs
Anecdotal evidence and some studies show that patients who are treated by nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) are satisfied with their care—but do they really understand the relationship NPs and PAs have with the hospital or hospitalist service? For that matter, do they really understand the roles NPs and PAs play in their care?
Laura Rosenthal, MSN, ACNP, director of nurse practitioners in the hospitalist medicine service at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, has encountered more than a few patients who, after several days in the hospital, report to her that they haven’t seen a physician yet. “I explain that I am their care provider, but if they would like to see an attending physician, I’d be happy to arrange for one to stop by.”
First NP granted privileges: A new twist to the hospitalist-PCP relationship
We’ve covered the hospitalist-PCP relationship extensively in recent months, including an article in Hospitalist Leadership Advisor, an insert to Medical Staff Briefing, that discusses how good communication between hospitalists and PCPs enhances patient care.
Here’s a new twist to the hospitalist-PCP relationship: According to Medical Biznow, a nurse practitioner in Washington, D.C., opened her own practice in 2004 and became the first nurse practitioner in private practice to be granted hospital privileges in 2007.
As the shortage of PCPs deepens, I think we are going to see more advance practice professionals, such as nurse practitioners and physicians assistants, take on different roles in patient care and even open private practices. There are certainly pros and cons to consider, but given the current crisis surrounding quality and access to care, doesn’t it make sense to give someone who is trained as a nurse and a clinician the authority to treat patients to take some of the pressure off of PCPs?
