Feeling Sick? Better Call The... Nurse Practitioner?

Filed in archive News on June 28, 2006

Given my background in health administration, I was interested in an article I recently read on CNN.com about nurse practitioners. Chances are, you might already be getting your basic medical care from a nurse practitioner; if you're not, you may be seeing one soon. Nurse practitioners are nurses who have advanced training that allows them to do many things a doctor does, including writing prescriptions and reading x-rays. Back in 1990, there were about 30,000 nurse practitioners; nowadays, their numbers have swelled to about 115,000. And nationwide just fifteen years ago, there were only a handful of clinics run by nurse practitioners, compared to about 250 today.

Nurse practitioners' numbers are expanding dramatically as they perform jobs that were traditionally done by M.D.s. According to the article, many new doctors are financially strapped by huge student loans, so they are understandably choosing to specialize in lucrative areas of medicine. Nurse practitioners fill in the gaps left by doctors who aren't choosing to specialize in family medicine or general internal medicine. Their patients are evidently happy with the care they're receiving, too. Back in 2000, a study that appeared in the Journal of the american medical association found that patients who got primary care from nurse practitioners did as well as those who were treated by doctors and reported the same levels of satisfaction with their care.

Insurance companies are also happy about the nurse practitioner trend. Nurse practitioners often charge less for basic office visits. Insurance companies, always interested in lowering their bottom lines, are starting to recognize nurse practitioners as primary care physicians and are paying them accordingly. The insurance companies also appreciate the attention nurse practitioners are paying to preventing serious health problems before they start, rather than fixing them years later, saving serious money.

Not everyone is jumping on the nurse practitioner bandwagon, though. The American Medical Association opposes giving nurse practitioners full autonomy. Its official policy is that a licensed doctor should be supervising nurse practitioners at all times and in all settings.

It doesn't surprise me that many doctors don't like the idea of a nurse being on the same level as they are. On the other hand, nurses are not on that level. After all, they're providing general medical care, which everybody needs and many new doctors don't seem interested in providing. If the docs don't want nurses doing "their job", perhaps more of them should focus on providing basic medical care instead of making money.

About the author: In her spare time, knotheadus writes for Epinions.com and maintains her own Web site, knot-heads.com.