Detraumatizing Nurse Practitioner Orientation

Abstract

Health care reform and legislation of restricted resident work hours lead to the evaluation and the changes in health care delivery. In the early 1990s, the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner role evolved to fill the care gaps created by these changes. As the numbers and opportunities for nurse practitioners (NPs) in tertiary settings continue to increase, how to successfully integrate these providers into the health care setting becomes more of a challenge with limited published assimilation models to provide guidance. With few role models, the responsibility of integration is left in the hands of novice NPs, hospital administrators, or physician colleagues. The purpose of this article was to outline orientation, implementation, and evaluation strategies to optimize the transition of trauma NP into the inpatient setting.