Advanced Practice Providers in Neurocritical Care

The specialty of neurocritical care by its nature involves a multidisciplinary approach to the management of critically ill patients with acute neurological and neurosurgical disease states (Mayer SA. Neurological intensive care emergence of a new specialty. Neurocrit Care. 2006;5(2):82–4). The establishment of a physician subspecialty in neurocritical care and the continued development of the specialty for advanced practice providers (APPs), a term used to define the roles of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), has contributed to a growing body of highly skilled, multidisciplinary professionals trained in the field of neurocritical care (Moheet et al., Neurocrit Care 29:145–60, 2018). Thus, it is of utmost importance to understand how best to optimize the use of APPs in the creation of multidisciplinary practice models that serve to provide safe and effective care to patients with neurocritical illness states. This chapter will: (1) detail the roles and responsibilities of the APP in neurocritical care; (2) discuss APP integration and opportunities within neurocritical care practice models; (3) review strategies for successful and effective implementation of a neurocritical care APP program; and (4) explore future directions for the role of APPs in neurocritical care.