Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants Play Key Roles in Hospitalist Practice

He and Kalupa also point out that NPs and PAs can successfully fill team leadership roles. “Physicians need to be willing to accept that the personality traits that made them great clinicians are often not those that one would desire in a team leader,” Dr. Friar says. Using a football analogy, he notes that an important part of being a good team member is to play to other members’ strengths and protect them from their weaknesses. “You don’t have the linebacker run the ball, or the quarterback kick the field goal attempt; you use people’s strengths where they will be most effective for the care of your patients.”

When Conflicts Arise

Successful working relationships between physicians and NP/PAs hinge on clear expectations and the willingness to have difficult conversations, Cardin says. She has practiced as a hospitalist for seven years and prior to that worked in the acute-care setting. As a result, she says, she is quite comfortable seeing patients independently.

Hospitalists new to the group or those who have not worked with NPs before may bristle at that idea, she notes. If a problem arises, such as a perceived encroachment on one’s scope of practice, be willing to address it openly. All relationships are constantly evolving, and it’s important not to overreact.

It’s “just like driving a car,” she says. “If you overcorrect when a wheel comes off the road, you will wreck the car. Sometimes all that’s needed is a small adjustment to manage the problem.”

Gretchen Henkel is a freelance writer in California.

What’s in a Name?

Dr. Kalupa

When Jeanette Kalupa, DNP, ACNP-BC, SFHM, vice president of clinical operations for Hospitalists of Northern Michigan, first joined SHM’s Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant Committee in 2003, it was called the “NP/PA Task Force.” The name was changed to the Nonphysician Provider (NPP) Committee to accommodate other allied professionals, such as pharmacists and case managers. She and her NP colleagues object to the NPP moniker “because it designates us as what we are not.”

The term “midlevel provider,” another common designation, is also problematic, she says, because it heightens awareness of a hierarchy. Just this past year, the committee name was changed to NP/PA Committee. “We’ve evolved over time,” Kalupa says. “I think rather than labeling someone as a ‘midlevel provider,’ it’s better to just call them what they are.”

—Gretchen Henkel

References

1. Iglesias B, Ramos F, Serrano B, et al. A randomized controlled trial of nurses vs. doctors in the resolution of acute disease of low complexity in primary care. J Adv Nurs. 2013 March 21. doi: 10.1111/jan.12120 [Epub ahead of print].
2. Hoffman LA, Tasota FJ, Zullo TG, et al. Outcomes of care managed by an acute care nurse practitioner/attending physician team in a subacute medical intensive care unit. Am J Crit Care. 2005;14(2):121-130; quiz 131-132.