Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

Using nurses/midwives/health visitors as a first port of call works fine when the individual in question knows their professional limits - ie recognises when a patient needs to be seen by a real doctor. From what I've witnessed over the years this is the tricky part....and it's where people don't get the treatment they need quickly enough.

Far better to have a doctor (with all the years of training and experience) to decide that the patient would be ok with a nurse treating them than a nurse who thinks they know as much as the doctor failing to refer in time.

Biggest problem with the NHS is not abuse by patients it is that it is underfunded when compared with similar countries and yet everyone wants the same care and mortality rate as those other countries. We're not talking slightly underfunded, it's about 2% less of GDP.

The bureaucracy within the NHS is unbelievable.....a GP friend in Scotland has seen her admin load increased enormously. Funnily enough, whilst the bureaucrats will allow the patients to be treated by lower levels of staff, this extra admin MUST be done by the doctor. There is a shortage of doctors in the UK now, this friend is seriously thinking of going out to the Western Isles to live and practice, apparently they don't have a dr out there anymore.

Originally Posted by Jsmth321

A nurse practitioner has more training then a normal nurse, they have at least a masters degree in their field, and some will have a doctoral degree although still not medical doctors their training is far more then a regular nurse who may have no more then 2 years of training depending on state.

The doctoral degree has caused some stir as those nurses technically are doctors just like anyone else with a doctoral degree is, and not all doctoral degrees are in medicine. Depending on state a DNP may not be able to use the title doctor in a medical setting.

Originally Posted by Rockgurl

I am a nurse practitioner student, and have been a nurse for 23 years. A DNP does not allow us to call ourselves doctors. We have a clinical doctorate but that's not the same as a physician, much like having a Phd. In other words, I can call myself Dr Soandso but I cannot introduce myself as the doctor. I would be a Doctor of Nursing. My professor is called Dr. Professor, but not when she's in clinic, only in the classroom. Confusing I know. In many states nurse practitioners are independently licensed and do not work under a doctor at all. By the time I graduate I will have had 9 years of schooling so I will be very well prepared to treat patients.