Nurse practitioner hospitalists: An empowered role.

BACKGROUND

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are increasingly employed by hospital medicine groups and contribute to the care of the hospitalized adult patient. Prior research indicates NP hospitalists are empowered in their role.

PURPOSE

This national study describes the work experience of the NP hospitalist workforce.

METHOD

A qualitative exploratory study using five focus group sessions with NP hospitalists is described using thematic analysis and synthesis of transcriptions. Inductive coding identified and further refined themes explained by NP hospitalist participants.

FINDINGS

Psychological empowerment was reaffirmed as the overarching theme to describe the experience of NP hospitalists. Five subthemes of this empowerment emerged: collegiality, autonomy, role preparation, the road traveled, and pathfinder.

DISCUSSION

Three main implications of the study include: the need for educational programs to align with practice; hospital bylaws require updating to support current practice; and the APRN Consensus Model does not fully reflect hospitalist roles.