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Interprofessional Interview: Family Medicine Nurse Practitioner

Sandra G. Fleet

School of Nursing, James Madison University

NSG 463: Professional Role Transition

Dr. Nena Powell

November 7, 2021
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Interprofessional Interview: Family Medicine Nurse Practitioner

In the healthcare system today, many people have a nurse practitioner as their primary care

provider. In my interview with Teresa Williams, FNP BC she explained that you will often see

nurse practitioners as the primary providers at a family practice. She stated that it was often

difficult to get doctors in family medicine because many medical doctors are choosing primary

care specialties, so nurse practitioners are an alternative. NP’s can be utilized as primary care

providers to help with the increased need for these resources during primary care physician

shortages (Poghosyan et al., 2017). My interest in interviewing a nurse practitioner was to see

the similarities and differences regarding the roles and responsibilities between doctors, nurse

practitioners, and other disciplines of a family practice and the collaboration needed to run it

successfully.

VCU Health Family Medicine at Warsaw is a family practice that cares for all patients

throughout the lifespan. Williams stated that she has been called Dr. Williams more times than

she can count. Williams said she will explain to her patients that she is not a doctor, but a nurse

practitioner, educating and explaining to them the difference in the degrees and years of

education needed for each. She went on to explain that in her practice, the doctors rely on the

nurses and nurse practitioners for the art of nursing that they bring to the practice. She stated

that although nurse practitioners have the same roles and responsibilities as the doctors in family

practice and can diagnose, treat, and prescribe, the medical profession sees the value of what the

art of nursing and the nursing profession brings to them.

Williams described her own role in the interprofessional team as diagnosing and treating all

patients throughout the lifespan. She went on to say that that she has the role of leader,
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supervisor, and advisor. She leads by example and set examples through her own work and work

ethics. She has a vision of how she wants the practice to run and sticks to that vision.

All members of the team are important to run a practice from the doctor to the janitor.

Williams said it is important for all members of the team to ask questions and questions from the

staff are always welcomed. In her practice, the interprofessional team communicates by having a

team meeting every morning for 15 minutes. They go over any information that has been

forwarded to them from upper management, the schedule for the day, and any openings that are

available to see patients. All information is discussed so that everyone is aligned with what is

expected to deliver quality care. The World Health Organization defines IPC as occurring when

“two or more individuals from different backgrounds with complementary skills interact to

create a shared understanding that none had previously possessed or could have come to on their

own” (Carron et al., 2021). Williams noted that communication within the team always has

room for improvement. Educating the staff on the importance of how to triage patients is a focus

and topic at most meetings. All voices are heard during the morning meetings and all team

members’ input is valued because it takes the whole team to run the practice. If team members

feel that they are not being heard, it can hinder interprofessional collaboration.

The voice of the patient and family matter as well. All complaints or suggestions from

patients and their family members are taken very seriously at the practice. Addressing

complaints or issues brought up by the team or patients can help eliminate future issues.

Conflicts or instances that require a crucial conversation among the team are handled based on

the situation. Individuals requiring a conversation will be addressed in private. An action plan

will be discussed, and a follow-up meeting will be held to discuss the progress regarding the

situation.
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Primary care has new challenges with the aging population and increasing plague of chronic

diseases. Interprofessional collaboration is a new model of care used to better health care

operations, patient results, and lower costs in primary care (Rawlinson et al., 2021). Williams

said her interprofessional team uses a system called EPIC. In this system, health care providers

and other disciplines can flag one another with questions or concerns regarding the patient. This

helps everyone involved monitor a patient and deliver the best treatment and care needed.

In Williams’ interprofessional team, the doctor and office manager usually lead the team. In

the absence of these two, the nurse practitioners would handle any situations should they arise.

As far as leadership, Williams says that everyone is a leader in their own role, and everyone

contributes to the success of the practice. My opinion on the collaboration of this team was just

as I thought. The doctor needs the nurse practitioners, the office manager, the receptionist, the

CNAs, and the lab technicians just as much as they need him/her.
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References

Carron, T., Rawlinson, C., Arditi, C., Cohidon, C., Hong, Q. N., Pluye, P., Gilles, I., &

Peytremann-Bridevaux, I. (2021). An overview of reviews on interprofessional

collaboration in primary care: Effectiveness. International Journal of Integrated

Care,  21(2), 31. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.5588

Poghosyan, L., Liu, J., & Norful, A. (2017). Nurse practitioners as primary care providers with

their own patient panels and organizational structures: A cross-sectional

study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 74, 1–7.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2017.05.004

Rawlinson, C., Carron, T., Cohidon, C., Arditi, C., Hong, Q. N., Pluye, P., Peytremann-

Bridevaux, I., & Gilles, I. (2021). An overview of reviews on interprofessional

collaboration in primary care: Barriers and facilitators. International Journal of

Integrated Care, 21(2), 32. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.5589