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<\/a>UConn Health employs 230 advanced practice providers, in addition to a few dozen per diem staff. Many have been in UConn Health\u2019s hospital units and outpatient practices for years, but in some areas it\u2019s a new concept as demand for clinical services continues to grow.<\/p>\n
One such area is interventional radiology<\/a>, where, recognizing the need for expertise in a very specialized and competitive field, UConn Health started to add advanced practice providers to the roster.<\/p>\n Amy Blackmer is a physician assistant who joined the practice last year and has immediately made a difference.<\/p>\n \u201cMy background is in emergency medicine, and I\u2019ve always enjoyed the procedural side of it, which is what initially piqued my interest in IR,\u201d Blackmer says. \u201cThere\u2019s always something new to learn \u2014 a different technique, a new procedure, upcoming treatments, etc. It keeps you on your toes and encourages you to be the best clinician possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Michael Baldwin<\/a>, former physician assistant himself, is interim chair of UConn Health\u2019s Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Therapeutics.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hospital has identified interventional radiology as an important part in terms of getting patients through,\u201d Baldwin says. \u201cOur hospital is much busier, with many more complex patients. Many cases are appropriate for APPs, and when they can handle them, it frees up our interventionalists.\u201d<\/p>\n UConn Health\u2019s interventionalists, Dr. Charan Singh<\/a>, Dr. Abner Gershon<\/a>, and Dr. Eric Cohen, are fellowship trained in interventional radiology.<\/p>\n \u201cThe radiology department here continues to grow and become busier every day,\u201d Blackmer says. \u201cHaving an APP on the team helps to decompress the department and ensure thorough patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAmy has really helped the department,\u201d Baldwin says. \u201cShe came in and knocked it out of the park. She represents everything APPs put forward: she\u2019s wonderful with patients, is a great person on the ground, does well with procedures, and she knows what she\u2019s good at and what she needs to learn more about.\u201d<\/p>\n APPs have been a fixture in many areas at UConn Health for years. Laura Granton has been a nurse practitioner for in the UConn John Dempsey Hospital Intensive Care Unit for nearly eight years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a spectrum of patient cases, from being very difficult due to extensive disease process to very positive patient cases with successful graduation out of the ICU,\u201d Granton says. \u201cI find great reward in helping families through those challenging times by being the point person they go to for questions and updates about their loved one\u2019s care.\u201d<\/p>\n Granton arrived at UConn Health as a registered nurse in 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking on the medical\/surgical floors, I would see our APP ICU group come to rapid responses\/codes and was so impressed with the knowledge and professionalism the APPs had,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI was always very curious about disease processes and wanted to know the \u2018why\u2019 behind the things the medical teams ordered. I very quickly decided I would want to look into UConn\u2019s acute care nurse practitioner program.\u201d<\/p>\n UConn\u2019s Elisabeth DeLuca School of Nursing<\/a> has several master\u2019s programs, such as tracks for family practice, primary care, psychiatry, and, as Granton did, acute care, which the nursing school introduced in 1993.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made me comfortable in the ICU setting and I quickly developed a great understanding of the demands ICU nurses have on a day-to-day basis,\u201d Granton says.<\/p>\n Rosemary Swanke is a critical care nurse practitioner and program director for advanced practice staff, and also was part of the first group to graduate from the acute care nurse practitioner program three decades ago.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the years, many of our current APPs started here as nurses or worked in other areas and went on to get their degrees as APPs,\u201d Swanke says. \u201cWe have APRNs, CRNAs and PAs who worked at UConn before advancing their professional careers. All amazing providers!\u201d<\/p>\n The week of Sept. 20 is National Advanced Practice Provider Week.<\/p>\n In interventional radiology, Baldwin says Blackmer has worked out so well that another PA is joining IR in the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201cMost days we\u2019ll have two PAs and at least one interventional radiologist on, and that will help with the workflow, getting patients in and through the hospital,\u201d Baldwin says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have people doing procedures, people sit and wait in their beds.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackmer says APPs allow for expanded medical access in the community, and in that way are essential parts of any healthcare team.<\/p>\n Granton agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cThe support for the APPs comes from the mutual respect that all of our healthcare colleagues have for one another,\u201d Granton says. \u201cNo matter what role we hold, we are all key players in a patient\u2019s care. Having open communication and understanding of one another is imperative to ensure the best experience for our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>In other areas, a longtime presence<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Expanded access to care<\/h3>\n
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