Health-Ed Reviewers: MDs vs Nurses

[HelpGram]

Greetings - I am hoping that I can pick some of your minds to inform an internal debate within our organization. We require all of our health education materials, which are developed by our mainly uncredentialed research team, to be approved by a licensed health professional before being disseminated on the internet. In some cases it is not always clear who this professional can be (e.g., Can a HelpGram on dental care be approved by Dentist and a Dental Hygienist or just by a Dentist). We are currently reviewing our criteria for expert status. I am in the camp that feels that licensed nurses are as qualified as MDs to review and approve the health care related HelpGrams. I'm curious how often nurses serve in the role of health care expert for media outlets. Are there any instances in which you which you believe an MD would have to be selected over a licensed nurse?

Your thoughts on this issue are much appreciate. To get a better understanding of what we do you can review our FAQs @ .http://www.helpgram.com/members/reviewer-faq.asp

Thanks for your time.

-Dan Fisher, Ph.D

[WashYaHands]

Nurses are licensed health professionals, and are certainly as qualified as physicians to dissiminate health care information. Patient teaching and education is an aspect of nursing that we perform daily in all areas of practice. Nursing is the study of caring in the human health experience. It is a unique profession that is concerned with the whole person, family and community both in times of illness and wellness as they are defined by the patient. Nursing is a profession which functions collaboratively with the health care team to assist the patient to achieve health and independence. Nursing is a process of interacting with patients to share information and concerns, determine client goals, and take action to achieve those goals.

Nurses and MD's have a wealth of medical knowledge to share. Although much of our medical knowledge overlaps, each discipline has a distinct body of knowledge. Many nurses serve in the role of health care expert. Nurses are advanced practitioners, researchers, scholars, educators, policy makers, community leaders and business people. It is unfortunate that the media does not seek out nurses for their contributions to healthcare more often. The only instance that I can think of where an MD would have to be selected over a licensed registered nurse is if one was diagnosing an illness or condition. However, Nurse Practitioners do diagnose and legally practice in such a role.

[HelpGram]

Extremely well stated WashYaHands. I hope you don't mind that I've cut and pasted your response and e-mailed it to my colleagues, as you make my point better than I ever could.

Cheers.