Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant-led Cardiovascular Surgery Postoperative Intensive Care Unit Staffing...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Intensive Care Medicine
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Cardiac surgical intensive care units (ICUs) face challenges in resource utilization and patient flow.
• Optimizing staffing models is crucial for efficient and safe patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if a nurse practitioner and physician assistant (NP/PA)-led rapid recovery pathway can enhance resource utilization in a cardiac surgical ICU.
• To assess if this model impacts patient safety and hospital length of stay (LoS).

Main Methods:

• A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted in a tertiary referral academic cardiac surgery ICU.
• Compared outcomes before and after implementing an NP/PA-led rapid recovery pathway for low-risk cardiac surgery patients.

Main Results:

• The rapid recovery pathway group showed a significant reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions (2.0% vs. 7.8%) and a trend towards shorter hospital LoS (5.2 vs. 5.7 days).
• No significant differences were observed in ICU readmission rates or safety concerns between the groups.

Conclusions:

• Implementation of an NP/PA-led rapid recovery pathway in a cardiac surgical ICU is associated with improved outcomes.
• This model optimizes resource utilization without compromising patient safety or increasing length of stay.