Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
Personally, I think a huge part of the answer is way, way, way more Nursing Practitioners. Cost way less, excellent medical knowledge, can handle low level medical issues no problem. I believe a NP is only very marginally more than a Registered Nurse, so ridiculous less expensive than a doctor. Not as skilled or knowledgeable as a doctor, no doubt, but still very sufficient for so many medical issues.
Many things do not require expert doctors, yet we for some reason pretend they do.
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NPs are perfect for most front line issues. We already rely heavily on nurses as front line medical providers hospitals. A triage nurse will, generally, decide how urgent your issue is and what kind of expert you need to see. Once you are in care, it's largely nurses that will deal with routine issue and call for doctors as needed.
We need to expand that philosophy to clinics. Have the NP deal with primary issues, if something requires more expertise or looks more serious, refer the patient up the chain.