Abstract 119: Elevating The Cerebrovascular Nurse Practitioner: Program Development With Neurosurgeon Champions

Background: The cerebrovascular nurse practitioner (NP) continues to have an ever-evolving role, particularly in neurosurgical departments. Although more NPs are obtaining their doctorate degrees, further post professional education is needed to promote specialty clinical practice. Our team developed a 16-week comprehensive educational program that addresses the main disease processes of stroke and highlights the importance of collaboration with cerebrovascular neurosurgeons. Methods: Four clinical domains were identified- see table 1. Each week, a neurosurgeon gave a 1 hour lecture that reviewed neuroimaging and anatomy, pathophysiology, clinical care presentation, and preoperative and postoperative management. After all lectures were completed for each domain, a 1 hour journal club was held discussing the most recent stroke clinical practice guidelines. NPs were surveyed to report which domains were most clinically meaningful. Results: Our division delivered a comprehensive educational program, allowing the cerebrovascular NP to take on a more independent role in patient care. Of the sections presented in each clinical domain, neuroimaging and clinical management were reported as the most important section of the lectures by NPs. Discussion: The cerebrovascular NP plays a unique role on the clinical team, regardless if a patient is seen throughout the entire continuum as an elective case or treated emergently and later discharged to clinic. This program optimized evidence-based cerebrovascular practices, improved collaborating relationships between NP and surgeon, and promoted professional development. Future work will include course evaluation for on-boarding NPs and program implementation in other neurosurgical subspecialties.