ROLE EVALUATION: THE ACUTE CARE NURSE PRACTITIONER LEADING MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ROUNDS

The role of the nurse practitioner is unique to the healthcare industry. With advanced knowledge and training, the utilization of the nurse practitioner has been incorporated into multiple settings nationwide. However, there is still growing concern that the role of the nurse practitioner is not clearly understood. Through a better understanding of the specific components and functions of the nurse practitioner role, in relation to patient outcomes, new and innovative uses for the nurse practitioner role can be employed. As more nurse practitioners assume an increasing role in the provision of care to patients within the acute care setting, the role of the acute care nurse practitioner has emerged as an innovative tactic to improve health care delivery systems. New opportunities have arisen for the incorporation of the acute care nurse practitioner into different healthcare delivery models: One such model is multi-disciplinary rounding. A new innovation for the structure of multi-disciplinary rounding is the incorporation of the acute care nurse practitioner as the lead for this collaborative care practice model. To better understand the impact on patient outcomes and quality of care measures, a thorough understanding of the specific role components and functions of the acute care nurse practitioner is necessary. This project evaluates the role of the acute care nurse practitioner as the lead for multi-disciplinary rounds within an intensive care step-down unit