Project BOOST Expands

The Hospitalist. 2009 April;2009(04):

April 1, 2009 | The Hospitalist

Q: What additional changes do you hope to see in the remaining time with BOOST mentors?

A: We definitely hope to improve our process. We want to have implemented the tools and have a coordinated discharge process, and a centralized way to communicate the discharge plan. We found a lack of communication creates a barrier among disciplines, and we hope to correct that and become more customer-friendly to patients.

Q: How did your site’s BOOST mentor assist in the implementation process? What was the outcome?

A: Our site mentor helped with the clarification of data to be collected for measurement, keeping us on track with the toolkit, and served as another set of eyes. When you are in an organization, and even when you have the appropriate team, you always need somebody to say, “What do you think about this?” or “Did you think about this item?”

It’s another perspective, sharing gained knowledge from other organizations. That’s very critical.

Collaboration, Commitment at the Top

Recognizing the unprecedented need for NPPs and hospitalists to work together, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the American Association of Physician Assistants (AAPA), and SHM have formed a unique collaborative group that benefits NPPs, hospitalists, and patients.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Sharon Kulesz, director of alliance development and education for AAPA. “It provides physician specialties with better-trained physician assistants, and it gives physician assistants better training within that specialty. The trainings are intense, high-level, and in concert with the physician organization, so when a physician assistant attends a conference, the physicians know it’s a high-quality, recognized session.”

A wide range of initiatives, including the NPP committee, a recently launched NPP page on SHM’s Web site, an NPP “boot camp,” and NPP educational sessions at HM09 in Chicago, reflect SHM’s commitment to all of the NPPs on hospitalist teams. “From the very beginning, we have envisioned SHM as an open tent,” Miller says. “SHM is a home for everybody involved in the practice of hospital medicine, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants.”

The NPP sessions at HM09 will feature a “basic” session that will serve as an introduction to how NPPs can alleviate workload issues in hospitalist practices; the “advanced” session will help hospitalists who already utilize NPPs to understand how best to work together. The boot camp, scheduled for August and jointly organized by AANP, AAPA, and SHM, will be geared specifically toward entry-level hospitalist NPPs.

AAPA already has seen considerable demand for NPP-focused educational programs. When the group began offering an educational course in hospital medicine two years ago, 30 physician assistants attended. In 2008, the course attracted 60 attendees, and it has a waiting list of nearly 100 for the next course.

The demand for HM courses for NPPs doesn’t surprise Saltzman. She’s seen firsthand the allure HM holds for NPPs. “They are attracted to hospital medicine because it is clinically challenging and intellectually stimulating,” she says. “But, most importantly, they like it because they know they can make a real difference.”—BS

SHM marketing coordinator Nadia Clenending contributed to this report.