Advancing Cardiovascular Nurse Practitioner and Physician Associate Workforce: Role for a Recruitment and Retention Program.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular practices increasingly rely on nurse practitioners and physician associates to support specialty care delivery, procedural growth, and patient access. Workforce instability, inconsistent onboarding, and limited professional development opportunities may negatively impact engagement and retention. PROJECT RATIONALE: A structured, longitudinal workforce development initiative was implemented within a large academic cardiovascular practice to improve nurse practitioners and physician associate engagement, professional growth, and workforce stability. PROJECT SUMMARY: This 2-year quality improvement initiative implemented a systems-level workforce development program across onboarding, mentorship, professional development, collaboration, research engagement, and leadership development. Perceived leadership support improved from 54% to 80%, research participation increased 120%, leadership and committee involvement increased 267%, peer-reviewed publications increased 24%, continuing medical education participation increased 27%, and academic rank advancement increased from 43% to 48%.