A new leadership frontier: Nurse practitioners and physician associates as inpatient medical directors

Nurse practitioners and physician associates (NPs and PAs) have become an integral part of health care delivery in every clinical setting. Both NPs and PAs possess the knowledge and skills to deliver quality care to patients that may otherwise go without. There is a push to have NPs and PAs work to the top of their licenses and take on leadership roles as they help reshape health care delivery in the United States. However, high-level leadership positions for this group of clinicians are not abundant, and no specific pathway has been established to develop these skills. The aim of this report is to share the early experience of a small group of NPs and PAs, given the opportunity to function as inpatient medical directors (IMD) and the qualities that make them ideal for this novel leadership role.