Page 19 - 2016 Nursing Annual Report | Summa Health

“It doesn’t feel like a hierarchy, but that
we are a valuable part of the critical
care team. It feels good to work in that
type of collaborative environment.”

A collaboration of care

Research has shown that Advanced Practice Providers (APP) provide safe
and effective patient care. In spring of 2016, Summa Health introduced
both classifications of APPs, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN)
and Physician Assistants (PA), to its Critical Care units with great success.

APRNs fall into four specializations: Nurse Practitioner, “It doesn’t feel like a hierarchy, but that we are a valuable
Certified Nurse Midwife, Certified Registered Nurse part of the critical care team. It feels good to work in that
Anesthetist, and Clinical Nurse Specialist. All of the four type of collaborative environment.”
require at least a Master of Science degree in nursing and
national board certification. The nurses on the Critical Care Units are able to lean
on the extensive experience of our Acute Care Nurse
According to the American Nurses Association and the Practitioners. According to Botsch, each one has at least
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, Acute Care five years of experience as a nurse, with two having more
Nurse Practitioners (ACNPs) focus on the stabilization of than 15 years of experience covering multiple disciplines.
acute medical problems, prevention and management
of complications, comprehensive management of “All of the ACNPs in Critical Care come with nursing
injury and/or illness, and restoration to maximal levels experience, so we can put the full picture together—what
of health within an interdisciplinary and collaborative nursing needs, what the doctors need, what the patient
healthcare team. Research shows that ACNPs provide needs—it just creates a better circle of collaboration and
high-quality, cost-effective care and positively affect the patient benefits,” said Jeff Benson,MSN, RN, AGACNP-
patient outcomes such as length of stay, catheter- BC, CCRN, Critical Care ACNP.
related urinary tract infections, skin breakdown, deep
vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolus prophylaxis, stress In October 2016, the Critical Care APPs started covering
bleeding prophylaxis, and anemia as well as enhanced the night shift at the Summa Health System – Barberton
communication, collaboration and continuity of care. Campus ICU. “The Barberton nurses have been amazing,”
said Schnick. “They’re really happy to have an APP on
“We have a great collaboration with our physicians and night shift in the ICU to augment the on-call coverage of
nurses and work really well as a team,” said Alex Botsch, the Critical Care physician”.
MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, Lead APP Critical Care.
ACNPs have a scope of practice that meets both the In spring 2017, Healthgrades gave Summa Health a
medical and nursing needs of vulnerable acutely ill Critical Care Excellence Award, which recognizes superior
patients. outcomes in pulmonary embolism treatment, respiratory
system failure treatment, sepsis treatment, and treatment
A total of seven APPs (five APRNs, two PA-Cs) currently of diabetic emergencies. Hospitals receiving this award
work in the division of Critical Care. Botsch and his co- represent the top 10 percent of the nation’s full service
workers said it didn’t take long for all the staff to embrace hospitals.
and utilize their talents.
“It’s not that often that you get to start a program from
“Our training involved significant time in the simulation scratch and watch the growth of its success,” said Benson.
lab and we went to the operating room to get procedural
experience, plus the one on one mentoring by the
physicians was amazing,” said Tim Schnick, MSN, RN,
AGACNP-BC, CCRN, EMT-P, Critical Care ACNP

From left to right, Tim Schnick, MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC,CCRN, EMT-P,
Alex Botsch, MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, and
Jeff Benson, MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN

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