AMA: Physician Shortage Growing; Nurses Seek More Practice Freedom
Geriatricians are internists who complete additional fellowship training in caring for elderly patients, who often have complex combinations of multiple chronic and acute medical conditions. Ironically, although geriatricians have additional training, they typically earn less than internists, because geriatric patients are often on Medicare health insurance, which provides lower financial reimbursements than many private insurers. Therefore, there is not much incentive for physicians to specialize in geriatrics, which is intensifying the shortage.
On the other hand, another AMA top story covers the latest developments on the nursing front. Advanced practice nurses are seeking to expand their scope of practice in at least 24 states. New legislature would legally allow nurses more freedom and authority to prescribe narcotics, and also to lead a patient care team, in states where doctors are now legally required to take the lead and supervise the team. Several states already allow prescribing and practice authority to advanced practice nurses.
I found it interesting that one doctor quoted in the article cites that giving nurses the additional freedom and independence they seek could “put patients’ safety at risk”. I’m confused! Maybe I’m oversimplifying the situation, but from a patient’s point of view: wouldn’t a complete lack of caregivers be a much greater risk to patients than being treated by a qualified, highly trained, and experienced advanced practice nurse? Then again, analysts are also predicting that the nation is also poised for a severe nursing shortage as well! (More on that later!) What is a patient to do?
What are your thoughts? Will expanding the scope of advanced practice nurses help to alleviate the physician shortage? Feel free to comment here, or in the health careers forum! We look forward to hearing from you. . .
Comments
In recently recruiting with a leading hospitalist mangement company, I experienced, first-hand, the increasing demand for both advanced practice nurses and physician assistants. This demand is in direct response to the difficulty in finding internal medicine physicians to fill the ever increasing number of open positions.
Many hospitalist groups today, are filling their open hospitalists positions with these mid-levels, because, quite honestly, some help is better than none.
Craig
The point that people are missing is that nurses are attempting to circumvent the process of going to medical school and residency training in order to practice medicine INDEPENDENTLY and without being under the jusrisdiction of state medical boards. These people are not so highly trained as you might think. They want to be equal to physicians with 1/4 of the training if that. The gen public is so naive and will believe anything these nurses say under the guise of increased patient access to care. In their attempt to claim equivalence and fool the naive public, they are now getting Doctor of nursing practice,DNP, certification in order to confer the title “doctor”. What happened to knowing your role in the health care team. Why. when there is an even more dire nursing shortage looming over us,is there a push to mint all these nursing doctors. Money and prestige pure and simple. These DNP degrees are available online people. No residency either. They are trying to create a parallel health care system based on a sham degree. This is why physicians are outraged.