4 ms·

I'm guessing that a similar situation exists with doctors; physicals, vaccines, and a handful of common diseases (like colds) probably make up a sizable

by chm 11y ago

I'm guessing that a similar situation exists with doctors; physicals, vaccines, and a handful of common diseases (like colds) probably make up a sizable percentage of visits. There's a market for someone who can just handle these cases and pass them off to the higher grade doctor when the need arises. Those are called GPs up in Canada. They do more than just deal with colds, but the system is set up so you first go through a GP and then are referred up.

Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
In the US we have general practitioners. They are full blown doctors with all of the 8 years of training that that entails. What I'm proposing is an intermediate step between doctors and nurses (or perhaps buffing up the powers of higher level nurses so they could operate standalone) so that one doesn't always need to make an appointment with someone with 8 years of specialized training to be stuck with a tetanus booster shot.
- chm 11y ago
  GP := General Practitioner. As a patient I don't want this to happen. I'm ok with nurses administering the shot, but by having an MD giving his approval first (or a "Super nurse"). At what point do you draw the line and say "this is enough knowledge, get to work"? What happens when things go wrong? How do you make sure things won't go wrong? It's not like in a lot of technological settings where if the system doesn't boot you can just buy a new one (caricature). You're dealing with the life and quality of life of a human being. Stakes are different.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > What I'm proposing is an intermediate step between doctors and nurses (or perhaps buffing up the powers of higher level nurses so they could operate standalone) We have categories matching that description in the US now, most notably Physician Assistants [0] and Nurse Practitioners [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner

by chm 11y ago

Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago

In the US we have general practitioners. They are full blown doctors with all of the 8 years of training that that entails. What I'm proposing is an intermediate step between doctors and nurses (or perhaps buffing up the powers of higher level nurses so they could operate standalone) so that one doesn't always need to make an appointment with someone with 8 years of specialized training to be stuck with a tetanus booster shot.

chm 11y ago
GP := General Practitioner. As a patient I don't want this to happen. I'm ok with nurses administering the shot, but by having an MD giving his approval first (or a "Super nurse"). At what point do you draw the line and say "this is enough knowledge, get to work"? What happens when things go wrong? How do you make sure things won't go wrong? It's not like in a lot of technological settings where if the system doesn't boot you can just buy a new one (caricature). You're dealing with the life and quality of life of a human being. Stakes are different.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> What I'm proposing is an intermediate step between doctors and nurses (or perhaps buffing up the powers of higher level nurses so they could operate standalone) We have categories matching that description in the US now, most notably Physician Assistants [0] and Nurse Practitioners [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner