Collaboration between healthcare professionals has long been recognized as a key factor in improving organizational success factors. Specifically, collaboration between advanced practice provider (APPs), such as nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician associates (PAs), and physicians has become increasingly important in modern healthcare systems, as it can improve patient outcomes, help alleviate turnover challenges of physicians and APPs, and improve complex care delivery. In this post, we will discuss the benefits of collaboration between two key groups of healthcare professionals, APPs and physicians, and provide practical strategies for healthcare employers to facilitate collaboration and overcome common barriers. When these two groups collaborate successfully towards organizational goals they benefit, as do their patients and employer.
Both Physicians and APPs are licensed, highly trained, healthcare professionals who diagnose and treat illness, disease, and injury. APPs include physician associates and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), whereas, physicians include Doctors of Medicine (MD) and Doctors of Osteopathy (DO).
While APPs and physicians have different educational backgrounds and scopes of practice, they share a common goal: to provide the best possible care to patients. Collaboration between these two professions can lead to better patient outcomes and improved organizational performance.
Collaboration between APPs and physicians result in numerous benefits:
Collaboration between APPs and physicians can improve access to care for patients. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), there is a projected shortage of 122,000 physicians by 2032 in the United States. This shortage will have a significant impact on patient access to care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. While rural and historically underserved areas are likely to experience the shortages more acutely, the insufficiency of physicians will be felt everywhere.
While the physician shortage continues to expand, the supply of PAs and NPs is projected to continue to increase. Meaning, APPs can help to fill the expanding gap by providing care services to patients who might otherwise struggle to access care. If APPs and physicians collaborate on care, together they can enhance access to care.
Collaboration between APPs and physicians can improve the quality of care provided to patients. APPs have advanced training and can provide high-quality care to patients. However, they are often not leveraged to the full scope of their practice. Collaboration between APPs and doctors can help to address this issue by allowing APPs to consult with physicians on complex cases. This collaboration can also help to ensure that APPs are practicing within their full scope of practice and following best practices. APPs, additionally, can provide continuity of care and support physician decision-making in those more complex cases, freeing physicians bandwidth.
Collaboration between APPs and doctors can lead to improved patient outcomes. Studies have shown that APPs can provide high-quality care that is comparable to care provided by physicians. For example, a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that patients who received care from NPs had comparable outcomes to patients who received care from physicians. However, collaboration between APPs and doctors can further improve patient outcomes by allowing for more effective communication around coordination of care. This communication, which is essential to providing high-quality patient care, empowers APPs and physicians to share information, clarify roles and responsibilities, and coordinate care more effectively. Effective coordination helps to ensure that patients receive the right care at the right time and that there are no gaps.
Collaboration between APPs and physicians can help to alleviate the burden on physicians. Physicians are facing increasing demands on their time and resources, and collaboration with APPs can help to lighten their workload. Additionally, there is an increased demand for APP workforce utilization as the care model delivery in large health systems becomes more complex. By collaborating in patient care delivery APPs can practice with more autonomy within their scope of practice- allowing advanced practice providers and physicians to provide higher-quality care to their patients. This can also help to improve physician, NP, and PA job satisfaction - reducing burnout, which is a growing (and costly) challenge.
Finally, collaboration between APPs and doctors can help to improve the overall quality of healthcare delivery. By working together, APPs and physicians can share their knowledge and expertise, which can lead to new insights and better practices. Collaboration can also help to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement, which is essential in modern healthcare systems. By working together, APPs and physicians can help to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care possible.
To facilitate collaboration between APPs and physicians, healthcare employers can:
Despite the benefits of collaboration, there can be barriers to working together effectively. Some common barriers to collaboration between APPs and physicians include:
To overcome these barriers, healthcare employers can:
Ultimately, collaboration between APPs and physicians is essential to providing high-quality patient care and improving organizational performance in healthcare settings and will only continue to become more crucial to organizational success over the next ten years. If you’re interested in learning how you can better support your post-graduate APPs during their transition and better leverage your APP workforce in the delivery of care let’s work together.