Developing a Burn Advanced Practice Provider Team: Actualizing the Vision

The ongoing physician shortage, residency work hour restrictions, and increased hospital admissions have collectively exacerbated demands on our Burn team. Our burn center averages over 600 admissions a year, serving a large urban community as well as a wide loco-regional area. Over the past 15 years, our Burn team included 1 to 2 advanced practice providers (APPs). In anticipation of growth, it was determined that 12 APPs would be required to meet patient care needs in a 24-7 staffing model. We developed an APP onboarding curriculum to facilitate team growth, comprised of comprehensive burn and intensive care unit (ICU) topics through various teaching methods. Between May 2023 and November 2024, 10 of the 12 positions were filled. Advanced practice providers now provide day and night shift continuity in the management of patients in the ICU, floor, clinic, operating room, and Emergency Department in collaboration with the monthly rotating resident team. The APPs also share in educating learners who rotate through the burn center. Finally, the APPs are encouraged to partake in professional development activities, including programmatic development, education, advocacy and outreach, and peer support. Through this program, we hoped to create an environment of retention, job satisfaction, and excellent patient care and to promote involvement in the national burn community. This experience may serve as a model for other centers to harness APPs as integral team members as practice paradigms shift nationally. We present data correlating the APP complement and productivity as measured by relative value units, helping justify the financial benefit of a robust APP team.