Iain Hotchkies writes
>The whole idea of Nurse Practitioners is, IMHO, simply the
>latest trend. There will be lots of studies. A few GP
>academics will make their professional fortunes on the back
>of the subject. Paper after paper will be trundled out and
>published in the BMJ, Lancet, what have you. Most practices
>will think about getting a NP. Some will. A lot of nurses
>will persuade their GP employers to fund whatever further
>qualifications they need. Some course organisers will make
>their fortunes by running the relevant courses. Then, 10-15
>years from now, someone will do a meta-analysis (or whatever
>the trendy statistical thing is in 2010) and prove that NPs
>are a waste of time, a waste of resources, not trusted by
>patients, not trusted by GPs and... well... simply cr*p.
And at the end of the day it will be no more possible to
measure their value than to measure the value of say a health
visitor. They will simply be part of a complex of medical care
personnel, one of many possible complex systems. The question
now is do we need them? To which I would answer a loud "yes".
We need them to relieve the ever increasing demand and workload.
The danger is that too much work will be delegated leaving the
GP with a more uncertain role. That is why the core services
issue is so dangerous. I am quite against the concept. GPs
will paint themselves into a corner. We should be employing
NPs and at the same time telling that surgeon (Mary Hawking
thread) we would be delighted to take on that subcut heparin
or whatever.
Doug Jenkinson
Keyworth Health Centre, Bunny Lane, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5JU.
[log in to unmask] V. 0115 937 3527 F. 0115 937 6781
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