Abstract:

The nature of the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) and attending physician (MD) relationship is that of trust, mutual respect, and delegation. In U.S. territories where MD supervision or oversight of APP practice is required by law, MDs are left to trust and delegate patient care tasks and authority to their collaborating APPs while sharing medical liability. While effective collaborating relationships are of great importance for MD/APP hospitalist teams, there are few guidelines or evidence supporting ideal collaborative care. At our hospital, we undertook a process to better understand the ideal levels of autonomy and collaboration on MD/APP hospitalist teams across various domains of care.