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. 2022 Mar 1;34(3):522-528.
doi: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000000611.

Nurse practitioner and physician assistant onboarding in a family medicine practice

Amanda Chaney  1 , Angela Martin  2 , Kathy Cardona  2 , Richard J Presutti  2
Affiliations

Nurse practitioner and physician assistant onboarding in a family medicine practice

Amanda Chaney et al. J Am Assoc Nurse Pract. .

Abstract

The nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) professions are rapidly growing. Historically, these professions have filled a health care delivery gap caused by lack of health care access and physician shortages. Many medical practices are more accustomed to adding new physicians as compared with adding new NPs or PAs. This article describes one institution's approach to develop and implement a successful NP/PA onboarding program. Several key components are discussed, including (1) established roles and responsibilities, (2) a clear timeline of the onboarding period including a foundational curriculum, (3) the mentor-mentee relationship, (4) the onboarding checklist, and (5) the onboarding itinerary. The objective was to have our NPs/PAs on a regular patient calendar within the 6-month period. The success rate with this has been 86%. In addition, there has been a 90% retention of NP/PA hires over the past 3 years. The authors believe this approach to NP/PA onboarding serves the patients well, providing excellent patient outcomes and patient experience.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) (2021, March). All about NPs. https://www.aanp.org/all-about-nps/what-is-an-np-2 .
    1. American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) (2021, March). What is a PA? https://www.aapa.org/what-is-a-pa/ .
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    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2020b, October). Occupational Outlook HandbookPhysician Assistants. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physician-assistants.htm .

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