Nurse Practitioner Role Value in Hospitals: New Strategies for Hospital Leaders

Hospital leaders in Canada are continuously seeking new ways to meet patient needs and Ministry of Health priorities. One approach, integrating nurse practitioners (NPs) into the interprofessional team of caregivers, has demonstrated the quality outcomes hospital leaders seek. However, hospital leaders report there is limited information available to them to clearly know NP role value. This is concerning, as these leaders make the employment and integration decisions that enable role success. The lack of information for leaders has left NP role integration success to chance. Without clear strategies, there is risk that hospital NP roles will not be integrated such that optimal practice and quality outcomes can be achieved. This paper aims to provide pragmatic information for hospital leaders using a real-life example of a hospital NP role. Optimal NP practice and outcomes are described using the three major practice foci of a new evidenced-based framework specific to the hospital NP role. New strategies to support successful integration and role value optimization are provided for hospital leaders, physicians and NPs.