Structured Specialty-Focused Educational Onboarding Curricula for Newly Hired Advanced Practice Providers: A Scoping...

Advanced practice providers (APPs), including physician assistants and nurse practitioners, benefit from structured onboarding curricula as they transition into specialty practice. These programs aim to enhance evidence-based knowledge, clinical skills, and core competencies, ultimately improving provider competency and health care quality. This scoping review seeks to map the existing literature on specialty-focused APP onboarding practices and identify knowledge gaps.

A systematic search was conducted from April to August 2024 using Medline, CINAHL, and SCOPUS databases. Key search terms included "APP," "physician assistant," "nurse practitioner," "specialty," "onboarding," and "curriculum." The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Data were managed using Zotero and Covidence for citation and screening, with data extraction performed using Joanna Briggs templates.

The review included studies primarily from academic medical centers (57.89%), focusing on both inpatient and outpatient settings (42.11%). Common onboarding strategies included clinical mentorship (84.21%) and educational modules (84.21%), with additional methods like shadowing (47.37%) and skills sessions (36.84%). Evaluation strategies included performance reviews (52.63%) and competency checklists (31.58%).

Effective specialty-focused onboarding combines clinical mentoring, structured shadowing, and multimodal training tailored to the needs of the APP and health care setting. This approach enhances integration, job satisfaction, and clinical competency while reducing APP turnover rates. The review highlights the need for further research to address gaps in onboarding methods and optimize the transition of APPs into specialty practices.