Complex Patients
Conditions
Keywords
referrals, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, consultative general internal medicine
Brief summary
The investigators have previously demonstrated utilizing a validated tool, that the quality of referrals from nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) is less than referrals from physicians. The investigators hypothesize that with local physician input, the quality of referrals from nurse practitioners and physician assistants will improve. This is a prospective study comparing patient referrals from nurse practitioners and physician assistants with and without prior discussion with a local physician.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALConsultations between NPs and PAs and their supervising physicians
Required discussion with physician prior to referral by a nurse practitioner or physician assistant
BEHAVIORALversus NPs and PAs who are not required to discuss patient referrals (control group).
Sponsors
Mayo Clinic
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
All nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the Mayo Clinic Health System
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Improved referrals from nurse practitioners and physician assistants to physicians as determined using a previously validated tool | 2 years |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed