Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner - Pulmonary, Thoracic Surgery, Full-time, Days

📋 Description

• • Be the clinical linchpin of Northwestern Medicine’s nationally ranked Pulmonary & Thoracic Surgery service, delivering seamless care from the first abnormal CT scan to decades of survivorship. In this full-time, day-shift role you will practice in a first-of-its-kind hybrid model—performing secure telehealth consults from any Illinois location while stepping into our state-of-the-art ORs and 24-bed thoracic step-down unit when hands-on expertise is required.
• • Own the complete pre-operative evaluation pipeline. Conduct nuanced histories and physicals, order and interpret high-resolution CT, PET/MRI, pulmonary function tests, cardiac stress imaging, and advanced labs. Translate complex data into plain-language risk-benefit conversations that empower patients to choose among robotic lobectomy, VATS wedge resection, tracheal reconstruction, or Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy. Your assessments directly determine surgical candidacy, optimize ERAS pathways, and set the tone for exceptional outcomes.
• • Function as the primary first-assist in the OR three to four days per week. Master minimally invasive techniques on the da Vinci Xi and VATS platforms—placing ports, manipulating double-lumen tubes, controlling bleeding with advanced energy devices, and ensuring oncologic specimen integrity. Your technical precision shortens operative times, reduces conversion rates, and elevates patient safety metrics that already sit in the 95th percentile nationally.
• • Lead daily multidisciplinary rounds on our 24-bed thoracic surgery step-down unit. Interpret chest tube outputs, arterial blood gases, telemetry trends, and early-warning scores to detect air leaks, atrial fibrillation, or pulmonary embolism before they escalate. Adjust multimodal, opioid-sparing pain regimens and coordinate same-day discharge pathways that have trimmed average length of stay by 1.2 days year-over-year. Your vigilance safeguards patients during the most vulnerable post-operative window.
• • Run independent outpatient clinics two days per week via secure telehealth and on-site sessions. Manage surveillance imaging, chronic post-thoracotomy pain, and long-term survivorship issues such as immunotherapy-related pneumonitis or radiation fibrosis. Perform in-office procedures—thoracentesis, chest tube removal, wound-vac changes—and document seamlessly in Epic so every caregiver sees the same longitudinal story. Your oversight ensures no patient falls through the cracks.
• • Spearhead our pulmonary nodule rapid-access clinic, leveraging Lung-RADS and NLST criteria to triage low-dose CT findings. Schedule and interpret navigational bronchoscopy, EBUS-TBNA, and robotic bronchoscopy results, ensuring that 95 % of malignant nodules move from detection to treatment plan within 14 days—well above national benchmarks. Your stewardship accelerates time-to-treatment and improves stage-specific survival.
• • Present cases at weekly thoracic tumor boards, synthesizing input from radiology, pathology, medical oncology, and radiation oncology to craft personalized, evidence-based treatment plans. Champion clinical trial enrollment for neoadjuvant immunotherapy, adoptive T-cell therapy, and novel SBRT fractionation schemes. Your advocacy translates bench research into bedside impact and expands therapeutic horizons for patients who once had none.
• • Serve as a preceptor for APP students, PA residents, and thoracic surgery fellows. Deliver bedside skills labs, simulation training on chest tube management, and didactic sessions on ERAS protocols. Your mentorship shapes the next generation of providers and reinforces Northwestern Medicine’s reputation as an academic destination of choice.
• • Drive continuous quality improvement by mining NSQIP, Epic SlicerDicer, and patient-reported outcome data to identify gaps in ERAS adherence, opioid utilization, and readmission reduction. Lead interdisciplinary workgroups to pilot same-day discharge initiatives and remote patient monitoring programs that have already cut 30-day readmissions by 18 %. Your data-driven mindset elevates the standard of care across the enterprise.
• • Enjoy a flexible, hybrid remote schedule that blends telehealth consultations, virtual tumor boards, and on-site OR and inpatient responsibilities. Leverage secure messaging, wearable pulse-oximetry devices, and AI-driven symptom checkers to deliver high-touch, high-quality care while maintaining work-life balance and geographic flexibility. Northwestern Medicine invests in cutting-edge technology so you can invest in what matters most—your patients and your life outside work.