Maximize the training and education of nurse practitioners

Nurses have set a historical precedent of stepping in wherever they are needed. It has been argued that nurses do not practice to the full extent of their education thanks to certain regulations. Were nurses to utilize the entirety of their practice and abilities, then the pseudo-boundaries that exist between NPs and physicians would be removed.

What makes NPs stand out? Many say it’s the holistic, nurturing way they approach patient care. It is thought that physicians, by contrast, typically use a disease-based approach, their primary focus being to diagnose a problem and treat it. NPs and physicians are on the same team; they’re just coming at patient care from two different angles. When collaboration between the two is encouraged, the patient’s immediate needs are always met—this provides quicker resolution times and increased satisfaction rates.  

It’s been suggested that hospitals should restructure primary care to accommodate for the scarcity of attending physicians. By encouraging PCPs to train NPs in handling their standard primary care patients, physicians could free up their time in the long run to focus on more complex cases.