Abstract
The nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) professions began in the 1960s in response to shortages of primary care providers [1]. However, NP and PA roles have expanded over the years to meet patient care needs in specialty and subspecialty areas of practice. Nationally, a growing number of intensive care units (ICUs) are integrating the use of advanced practice providers (APPs) including NPs and PAs as a strategy for meeting ICU workforce needs [2, 3]. Currently, more than 205,000 NPs and more than 93,000 PAs are practicing in the United States [4, 5]. NPs and PAs play an increasing role on ICU teams to assist in direct patient care management in conjunction with the intensivist led team along with other role components including leading quality improvement initiatives, assisting with research studies, and promoting continuity of care in the ICU [5–7]. According to the 2013 AAPA Annual Survey Report (15,025 respondents), 2.3 % of the PA respondents listed the ICU as their primary clinical work setting.
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Kleinpell, R., Grabenkort, W.R. (2016). Incorporating Advanced Practice Practitioners in the ICU. In: Martin, N.D., Kaplan, L.J. (eds) Principles of Adult Surgical Critical Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33341-0_48
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