The Advanced Practice Provider
(APP) Committee: Updates
By Megan Brissie DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, CEN, Emmaculate Fields MS, RN, AGACNP-BC, Sarah Livesay DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, ANCS-BC,
Jessica White MMS, PA-C, and Susan Yeager MS, RN, CCRN, ACNP-BC, FNCS
The Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Committee is an exciting
new committee established in 2017 with the goal of supporting
the APP community within the Neurocritical Care Society. The
inaugural project of the APP Committee was to distribute a Needs
Assessment Survey to evaluate the educational, professional and
networking needs of APPs. The survey was sent to the 171 APP
members identified within NCS. There was a 61.4 percent response
rate, with feedback provided by over 100 APPs. APPs involved in
NCS were found to be primarily practicing in academic medical
centers’ neuroscience intensive care units (78 percent) with an
average of 18 critical care beds. Although this dynamic team of
providers’ experience ranges from new graduate APPs to 34 years
of experience, the average years of experience of the APP practicing
in neurocritical care within NCS was found to be 8.19 years, with
most APPs indicating two, five and seven years of clinical practice
experience. APP teams continue to vary in number of providers
utilized to meet patient care needs within the various unit settings.
The number of APPs utilized by intuitions varied from one to 20
APPs, with the average team size of 7.3 APPs per group. Although
98.95 percent of APPs indicated that direct patient care is their
primary role responsibility, over 40 percent of APPs indicated
they had additional role responsibilities including administrative
duties, research responsibilities, quality improvement involvement
and faculty member affiliation within an academic institution.
Results reflected that these nonclinical activities were generally
completed on the provider’s personal time.
In addition to the above results, APPs continue to value the
Neurocritical Care journal, NCS Guidelines and ENLS as their
primary means of specialty education. Survey respondents
identified the need for a web-based learning series directed at the
foundations to neurologic clinical practice and an orientation
manual to guide onboarding of APP’s to the neurocritical care
unit. Utilizing the results of the Needs Assessment, the APP
committee has prioritized projects targeted at the identified needs,
including educational initiatives, for the coming year.
Current goals of the APP Committee include: the development of
four neuroanatomy webinars and the creation of a standardized
NCC APP orientation guide. The projected rollout of the first
webinar is slated for the end of 2017 with subsequent webinar
offerings becoming available on a quarterly basis. The orientation
process is ongoing in collaboration with the educational product
committee and national office staff.
The APP Committee would like to thank the current committee
members for all their hard work during this inaugural year
under the direction of the Chair Jessica White, Co-Chair Sarah
Livesay, and board liaison Susan Yeager. The committee continues
leadership with Sarah Livesay as chair and Susan Yeager as the
board liaison and welcomes Megan Brissie as the incoming chairelect.
Thanks again to all the APP who took the time to provide
valuable feedback. We look forward to building on the strong
foundation already laid to further support optimal contributions
of the NCS APP community and the patients and families the APP
community serves.
2017 Advance Practice Provider Leaders and Committee Members:
• Megan Brissie
• Melissa Ellis
• Emmaculate Fields
• Rachel Hausladen
• Thuy-Tien Ho
• Craig Hutto
• Liz Kim
• Sarah Livesay, Co-Chair
• Jenna Logan
• Susan Yeager, NCS Board Liason
• Jing Wang
• Jon Wheiler
• Jessica White, Chair
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