Betty A Corona, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC

As faculty in the Department of Family & Community Medicine, I am a board-certified family nurse practitioner that has many roles and responsibilities. As a nurse practitioner hospitalist for the Family Medicine Hospitalist Service, I supervise family medicine residents, podiatry residents and students, physician assistant students, nurse practitioner students, medical students, pharmacy students and PharmD residents who are learning hospital medicine. The patient population on the hospital service are mostly adults and teenagers who are acutely ill, often from an underserved background suffering from social determinants of health and poverty, with acute conditions, acute on chronic conditions such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery diseases as well as perioperative patients being cared for by an interprofessional team including podiatry, orthopedics and general surgery. I have managed these patients myself for over 10 years and now have assumed a teaching and administrative role. I review documentation in the electronic medical record of attendings, residents and students and make recommendations for improving the documentation from a medicolegal standpoint, emphasize communication to improve patient care and teach accurate documentation for billing and coding. I audit charts with the compliance department and educate the coders on appropriate interpretation of the charting in order to capture the appropriate level of care for billing. I have developed a transition of care process for patients from the hospital to home and then to clinic and supervise Jessica Clay, LVN who is responsible for following the transition of care processes for our hospital patients. I assist with discharges of patients, when needed, by writing orders, writing prescriptions, guiding medication choices upon discharge, and follow up plans. I direct safety improvement measures and clinical effectiveness goals for the hospital service. I collect and analyze data, generate reports and submit to department administration for hospital patient data including Family Medicine Hospital Service census, Podiatry Service census and Maternity Service census. I am a liaison for Family Medicine when working with the podiatry and internal medicine services. I am active in writing policies and protocols to improve service communication and practices as well as identifying quality improvement projects for the hospital service. I am a point of contact for hospital case management and the nursing staff to improve patient care and ensure timely discharges. I am available to the residents for bedside guidance during emergencies and whenever they are uncomfortable with providing patient care on their own. I teach a separate Billing and Coding elective for the residents that involves teaching them correct medical documentation and how to capture codes for appropriate billing. I am developing a hospital practice management rotation for all 3rd year residents. I am on the Family Medicine Residency Evaluation and Promotion committee and help guide the needed education of each resident. I am a member of University Hospital and UT Physicians Credentialing Committees and provide the institutions with needed credentialing requirements for nurse practitioners. In addition, I am a member of the Patient & Family Advisory Council for University Hospital helping improve processes in the hospital by focusing on a patient-friendly model. In addition, I am a member of the Family & Community Medicine Managers/Advisers Committee of whom assists in making improvements within the department and on our own teams.