| Abstrakt: |
Background:The cerebrovascular nurse practitioner (NP) continues to have an ever-evolving role, particularly in neurosurgical departments. Although more NPs are obtaining their doctorate degrees, further post professional education is needed to promote specialty clinical practice. Our team developed a 16-week comprehensive educational program that addresses the main disease processes of stroke and highlights the importance of collaboration with cerebrovascular neurosurgeons.Methods:Four clinical domains were identified- see table 1. Each week, a neurosurgeon gave a 1 hour lecture that reviewed neuroimaging and anatomy, pathophysiology, clinical care presentation, and preoperative and postoperative management. After all lectures were completed for each domain, a 1 hour journal club was held discussing the most recent stroke clinical practice guidelines. NPs were surveyed to report which domains were most clinically meaningful.Results:Our division delivered a comprehensive educational program, allowing the cerebrovascular NP to take on a more independent role in patient care. Of the sections presented in each clinical domain, neuroimaging and clinical management were reported as the most important section of the lectures by NPs.Discussion:The cerebrovascular NP plays a unique role on the clinical team, regardless if a patient is seen throughout the entire continuum as an elective case or treated emergently and later discharged to clinic. This program optimized evidence-based cerebrovascular practices, improved collaborating relationships between NP and surgeon, and promoted professional development. Future work will include course evaluation for on-boarding NPs and program implementation in other neurosurgical subspecialties. |
