Nurse uproar over new GP assistants
http://www.nursinginpractice.com
Plans to bring in new GP assistants will tread on nurse practitioner toes, say Nursing in Practice readers.
Physician assistants are to “supplement the existing NHS workforce” in taking medical histories, performing examinations, diagnosing illnesses and analysing test results.
But Nursing in Practice readers agree that the new profession is unnecessary, as nurse practitioners have been doing the job for years.
One Nursing in Practice reader commented: “Why bring in yet another layer of clinician when we are already out there just waiting for recognition for the job that we do?”
Readers are also worried that bringing in new GP assistants will lower their status as nurses and cut their financial rewards.
Some say the new role is just a play on words, with a reader questioning, “Is the physician assistant just another fancy title that is going to confuse doctors, nurses and more importantly patients?”
Lynne Gray, a nurse clinician from Skelmersdale concludes that instead of creating a completely new profession, the Nursing and Midwifery Council should “pull itself together and recognise advanced practice qualifications.”
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