Hospital medicine workforce: The impact of nurse practitioner and physician assistant providers

Patterns of utilization and evaluation of advanced practice providers on academic hospital medicine teams: A national survey

“…Advanced practice providers (APPs), including nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), are an integral component of the workforce at hospitals nationwide 1–3 . Over the past two decades, APPs have been integrated into team‐based models in HM groups 2–5 with approximately 4% of the 325,000 licensed NPs 1 and 3.1% of the 139,000 certified PAs 6 practicing HM. Studies evaluating the impact of APP staffing on patient outcomes, including mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) transfer, length of stay, costs and patient satisfaction, have had mixed results, but mostly suggest that APP‐staffed teams provide equal quality of care compared to teams staffed by resident physicians 2,4,7–9 …”

The role of advanced practice providers in the growing nephrologist shortage

“…For example, APPs can substitute for physicians without requiring direct oversight or work in conjunction with a physician, co-managing a larger patient panel simultaneously. 26 Roles can vary greatly depending on the institution, state regulations, and specialty. A systematic review of 42 studies 27 published between 1977 and 2021 demonstrated that PAs had similar or improved patient outcomes and cost of care when replacing or working in conjunction with a physician.…”