Career Progression Opportunities For NPs and Pas

The Department of Surgery employs over 70 Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Physician Assistants (PA) in a variety of roles across its 9 Divisions. Between Divisions, there lacks uniformity of annual evaluations or recognition of contributions by these Advanced Practice Clinicians (APC). University-wide, APCs do not have a career advancement track and limited faculty roles available. With over 500 APCs in University of Utah Health, this is a large number of individuals without a career advancement model. Our turnover rate for APCs is higher than we would prefer, and while our average APC in the Department has been with us for nearly 4 years, those who leave typically do so after just 2-3 years. Most APCs reach optimal proficiency at 18-24 months, so these losses shortly thereafter increases the burden on the system in both lost productivity and strain on the remaining team members.We are in an optimal position to look at retaining the talent we have and feel that providing recognition for professional contributions and advancement opportunities will improve APC fulfillment in their current roles.