Role of Nurse Practitioners

bassandtea · Jun 27, 2008

I personally think it's AMA b.s. Nurses are competent and well trained and in the case of nurse practitioners have greater education than GPs who only require a BMBS. As it stands in many rural and regional areas nurses are the only medical/health professionals available.

Nurses also seem to be more willing to travel and work in more remote environments, unlike many doctors.

talaxandra · Jun 28, 2008

I agree - I get that the AMA are concerned about protecting their profession (in the same way the ANF wants to restrict nursing duties to nurses not untrained PCAs), but there 1) aren't enough doctirs, particularly who are prepared to go to remote areas or work in less attractive specialties, and 2) much of the time medical-level care isn't needed.

joannep · Jun 29, 2008

I agree - many people attending doctors surgeries are there for chronic conditions, not acute episodes and therefore don't need to see a doctor at all.

wembley1 · Jun 29, 2008

The AMA is a political group, aim is to protect their members, they don't care about patients, never have and never will. They are scared that there mighty wages will go down if NP's become widespread. It is good to finally see Australia recognise NP's and that courses set up for NP's have good content, similar to USA NP's. NP's have worked in the USA for years, and our health system is similar to the USA and Canada. I think we need to be careful about PA's coming into the system, like in the UK now. As nurses we need to protect patient's and push our credentials, but wouldn't surprise me if some Physician's pushed for PA's as they can control this group more than NP's. I would love to see the use of CRNA's in Australia, would love to see the AMA response to that!!!! Think NP's are good for Australia and for Nurses, some career options.

nyapa, RN · Jun 29, 2008

Agree totally. Actually, I like the point about GPs only seeing chronically ill ppl, whereas rural nurses see often very acute ppl. Its ridiculous that currently a nurse can't even write an MCS form to have a wound swab checked, or an MSU...

talaxandra · Jun 29, 2008

Its ridiculous that currently a nurse can't even write an MCS form to have a wound swab checked, or an MSU...

I know - it's so frustrating when you've got (to use an example from my night) a patient on a heparin infusion that's still being titrated. We all know he's going to need another APTT but if there's no slip it's either forge one (I'd never do that, good god, perish the thought) or wait for the overnight cover to come up, because hse has absolutely nothing better to do, and in the interim the window's getting smaller and smaller...

And now I return you to your regularly scheduled thread, the Role of Nurse Practitioners!

bassandtea · Jun 29, 2008

I keep on thinking more and more about this and believe that there is an important role for NPs to play in the Australian health care system.

In a country that is so spread out and with many rural/remote areas have both limited access to health care facilities and smaller populations it seems to me that NPs are an ideal solution to the current problems.

There is a very limited number of places for those wanting to become doctors to train, and often we are having to look overseas to fill positions in rural areas. I have also yet to meet somebody who is wanting to study medicine that wants to move to a rural/remote area, whereas a number of the people I am studying with (including myself) are wanting to spend at least a few years working in rural/remote areas.

With many doctors - even those in the city being overburdened by patient loads surely having an alternative can only be a positive change. I'd love to see NPs being able to issue medical certificates for people needing time off work. I find it so frustrating to sit in a GPs office for up to an hour just to be told I have the flu and need bed rest and get a medical certificate for work, when I know I need rest and could have spent that hour resting,

An additional advantage I can see in having a strong NP role is that it could play a role in attracting people to nursing. So many people don't understand the role of the nurse and don't want to become a nurse because they see it as a role with no career path or autonomy and a highly visual NP workforce could go some way to changing that.

wembley1 · Jun 29, 2008

I agree, the role of NP's is a good thing for Australia. I think what is good to see is that education of NP's has properly being looked at, i.e., minimum of post grad diploma or masters in NP, with similar course content to the USA NP's. Gladly it is not a farce like the UK, regulation of NP's and qualifications over in the UK is a huge issue, and due to this, an introduction of physician assistants has come into place. I think in Australia we set higher standards of education and practice which is great, I spent a lot of time working in the UK, and whilst they have a lot of great NP's, ironically many of which are Australian!!!, the standard and knowledge of Australian nurses was greater the UK nurses. NP's in Australia will provide patient's with better access to healthcare, especially in rural areas.

nyapa, RN · Jun 30, 2008

We have a lot of nurses come through our hospital as tourists. I do know that many of the UK nurses cannot give IVABs; its a separate certificate?

What role do NPs play in the UK ie what areas do they work in?