Acute Care Advanced Practice Providers' Use of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Fiona Winterbottom; Adam W Katz; Sarah Skinner; Dawn Carpenter; Lisa-Mae Williams; Ruth Kleinpell

doi:10.4037/aacnacc2023516

Acute Care Advanced Practice Providers' Use of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

AACN Adv Crit Care. 2023 Dec 15;34(4):343-349. doi: 10.4037/aacnacc2023516.

Authors

Fiona Winterbottom¹, Adam W Katz², Sarah Skinner³, Dawn Carpenter⁴, Lisa-Mae Williams⁵, Ruth Kleinpell⁶

Affiliations

¹ Fiona Winterbottom is Clinical Nurse Specialist, Critical Care Medicine, Ochsner Health, Ochsner Medical Center, 1514 Jefferson Highway, New Orleans, LA 70448 (Fwinterbottom@ochsner.org).
² Adam W. Katz is Senior Director, Advanced Practice Provider Services, and Critical Care Advanced Practice Provider Program, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts.
³ Sarah Skinner is Clinical Coordinator for Critical Care Advanced Practice Providers, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts.
⁴ Dawn Carpenter is Associate Professor of Nursing, UMass Chan Medical School, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Nurse Practitioner, Surgical ICU and Trauma Team, Guthrie Healthcare System, Sayre, Pennsylvania.
⁵ Lisa-Mae Williams is Operations Director, Telehealth Center, Tele-Critical Care and Virtual Sepsis Unit, Baptist Health, Coral Gables, Florida.
⁶ Ruth Kleinpell is Associate Dean for Clinical Scholarship and Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, Tennessee.

PMID: 38033211
DOI: 10.4037/aacnacc2023516

Abstract

Advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants, collectively termed advanced practice providers (APPs), have been part of telehealth for many years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, APPs experienced the growth in roles, responsibilities, and tools used for telehealth care delivery. This article uses examples from 3 health systems to highlight the ways in which telehealth use was expanded due to the pandemic, how APP roles were altered across the United States during and after the pandemic, and implications for future practice.

Keywords: advanced practice nurse, nurse practitioner, telehealth, tele; critical care.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Critical Care
Delivery of Health Care
Humans
Pandemics
Telemedicine*
United States