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A Precise and Autonomous System for the Detection of Insect Emergence Patterns
Published on: January 9, 2019
Emergency physician evaluation of PA and NP practice patterns.
Andrew W Phillips1, Kevin M Klauer, Chad S Kessler
1Andrew W. Phillips is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kevin M. Klauer is chief medical officer of hospital-based services, emergency medicine chief risk officer, and executive director of patient safety organization for TeamHealth, and an assistant clinical professor at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine. Chad S. Kessler is deputy chief of staff of the Durham (N.C.) VA Healthcare System. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) are increasingly common in emergency departments (EDs), but their practice scope and patterns vary widely. New graduate PAs may be better prepared for ED practice than new graduate NPs.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Healthcare Workforce Studies
- Advanced Practice Providers
Background:
- The utilization of Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in Emergency Departments (EDs) has rapidly increased.
- However, a comprehensive understanding of their scope of practice and typical practice patterns remains limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the current scope of practice and practice patterns of PAs and NPs in the ED.
- To identify variations in supervisory requirements and resource utilization between PAs and NPs.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two cross-sectional electronic surveys targeting the American College of Emergency Physicians' council.
- Survey design was informed by expert interviews and underwent validity and reliability assessments.
- Employed univariate analyses to determine associations between variables.
Main Results:
- A significant majority of surveyed departments (72.4%) employ PAs and NPs.
- Substantial variability exists in supervisory requirements for PAs and NPs across different Emergency Severity Index (ESI) levels.
- Regardless of experience, NPs consistently utilized more resources than PAs, with statistically significant differences observed for both less-experienced and more-experienced providers (p < .001).
Conclusions:
- Significant heterogeneity in the scope of practice for PAs and NPs in the ED setting was reported by council members.
- Findings suggest that newly graduated PAs may possess greater clinical readiness for ED practice compared to newly graduated NPs.
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