A fast-growing group of clinicians at Mass General, advanced practice providers (APPs) number close to 1,000 across all inpatient and outpatient practices at the hospital and its satellites. To help support APPs and their practices, Darlene Sawicki, MSN, NP-BC, was named director of APPs, a newly created role she has held for about a year. She also continues to practice in the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) clinic. APPs include nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives. We spoke to Sawicki about how APPs can help provide great care for our patients.
Q: What do you see as your role for APPs?
A: My role is to be a resource, to build a community, and to help Mass General better integrate APPs for the highest level of care collaboration. I liken myself to a rolodex for the APPs, the physicians, and the administrative leaders. For example, I can offer resources and support for situations, such as if a division chief needs advice about hiring an APP for the first time, or a department wants to know how to have their APP see more patients or has questions about credentialing and training.
Q: What are some of your initial goals and objectives?
A: At a high level, it’s to improve synergy among APPs, physicians, and other clinical staff; encourage productive and efficient collaboration among clinical and nonclinical staff; identify broad areas for improvement; build a structure for APPs to effect change; and create an anchor for APPs to connect with resources and knowledge.
I formed a senior leadership APP committee, and our first step is looking at quality, safety, and scope. Within each department and division, everybody’s working at different levels. We’re trying to see how we can bring people to the top of their license in a thoughtful way.
We also want to help entire teams navigate these waters: Do they know what their practice guidelines are? Does the collaborating physician or supervising physician know what’s required of them by the state? Have people been trained appropriately on safety? Is there enough oversight or too much?
Q: Can you talk about the importance and growth of APP roles?
A: With a multidisciplinary model of care, APPs are great partners in providing increased access to care. It’s going to be a win-win if we have collaboration across all professions, from administration, physicians, APPs, and nursing. It’s going to take the entire village to create a good system that will allow patients to have access to care they need when they need it, so we can decrease numbers in the emergency department and reduce discharge times.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I’m so grateful for this role; the APPs really welcome it, and the physician leadership that I’ve met with is appreciative. This is going to be a long endeavor and it speaks to the culture at Mass General, where we work together to solve problems and change with the times as health care changes.
Watch a video as Darlene Sawicki, center, discusses the APP role with Marcela del Carmen, MD, right, MGPO chief medical officer, and Inga Lennes, MD, left, thoracic oncologist and MGPO SVP, Performance Improvement and Service Excellence.
Darlene Sawicki, (617) 726-6190.