Advanced Practice Registered Nursing Education

The MetroHealth System has had Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) for over thirty years and currently employs over 250 APRNs. This dynamic group is made up of Certified Nurse Practitioners, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Certified Nurse Midwives and Clinical Nurse Specialists dedicated to providing high quality care to our patients.  APRNs can be found in nearly every location throughout MetroHealth, including our ambulatory clinics, Emergency Department, inpatient settings and specialty departments. The expertise of our APRNs is exceptional, providing patient-centered care and evidence-based practice to our diverse patient population.

Since 1995, MetroHealth has had an APRN Council that works actively on any and all issues related to APRN practice. The Council sponsors two conferences each year, a Fall Pharmacology Conference and a Spring Conference on various topics determined by the members of the APRN Council. Both conferences provide continuing education credits for the APRNs and offer them a means to keep current with APRN medical practice and issues. Additionally, the Council provides four free educational sessions annually, with a diverse set of topics.

The Council is committed to the community through service projects to benefit our patients. Some of the past projects include providing over six thousand pillboxes to patients. In addition to the pillboxes, pediatric “sippy cups” were given to six hundred pediatric patients and thousands of warm/hot packs and pill cutters were distributed to patients. A  Council grant project was introduced in 2013, which yearly awards three $1000 grants to individual APRNs to complete patient-focused projects. Some of the grant-supported items have been:  three Nintendo Wii systems for patients on the inpatient Rehabilitation Units, an Emergency Department Pediatric Cheer Cart with diversionary toys and games, educational materials printed in Spanish and English for diabetic patients, and  meal cards and parking vouchers for geriatric patients with limited resources. 

Dedicated to discovering new knowledge, bringing innovative practices to MetroHealth and sharing best practices, many APRNs are involved in research, publishing and education. The APRNs involvement in mentoring and teaching is exceptional, with our APRNs logging more than 50,000 hours of precepting to APRN students in the past two years.

From neonates to geriatric patients, APRNs work with many populations throughout our organization and are a critical part of patient care delivery at MetroHealth. The APRNs play an integral role in providing access to our patients, especially those participating in the Medicaid Waiver Program and the Accountable Care Organization. The team approach with nurses, physicians and ancillary staff helps to make our APRNs a very effective group at MetroHealth.