Learning Together: Integration of Advanced Practice Providers into a General Medicine Ward Team

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) demands that physicians should be trained to engage in clinical activities with other health profession providers. Incorporation of advanced practice providers (APPs) into medicine ward teams has not yet been described. AIM: To describe a pilot and feasibility evaluation of an interprofessional general medicine ward team with internal medicine residents and APPs to encourage resident leadership development, enhance service to education balance, and promote interprofessional collaboration.

Correlation between surgical booking by a PA and surgical procedure performed

“…State guidelines that detail the level of supervision required from a physician should be followed in defining scope of practice 10. PAs and NPs can fulfill many roles, including evaluating patients in clinic; first-assisting in the OR; and performing inpatient consults, specialty clinics, and postoperative follow-ups 11-13. In pediatric urology, PAs and NPs traditionally have been involved in enuresis/incontinence clinics for children.…”

“…10 PAs and NPs can fulfill many roles, including evaluating patients in clinic; firstassisting in the OR; and performing inpatient consults, specialty clinics, and postoperative follow-ups. [11][12][13] In pediatric urology, PAs and NPs traditionally have been involved in enuresis/incontinence clinics for children. More recently, this role has expanded to include independent performance of newborn circumcision, among other minor penile procedures in the OR.…”

Advanced Practice Provider Care Team Models

“…Analysis of this information can encourage practice redesign and can be used to accurately predict metrics during allocation of resources. Further standardization of the training of these team members with verification of competencies will continue to advance the model of care to provide improved patient outcomes while also increasing access to care (Gottenborg et al, 2019).…”

Exploring the Intersections of Education and Healthcare Delivery Using a Clinical Learning Environment Framework

“…Gottenborg and colleagues appreciated the growing reliance on NPs and PAs to manage the clinical workload on inpatient medicine services, the lack of interaction between these health professionals and medicine residents, and the opportunity to design a new organizational structure (an integrated general medicine ward team comprised of medicine residents and NP or PA fellows). 8 In this paper, the authors oriented the objectives, evaluation, and discussion of the new interprofessional team toward educational outcomes and implications. A clinical learning environment framing could introduce the additional perspective of outcomes and implications for the clinical service thereby opening up a scholarly discourse about alignment between education and health delivery systems.…”