12. Collaboration between Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants

Abstract

Non-Physician providers, such as Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners, are in more need than ever as medical costs continue to skyrocket, the number of Physicians diminish, and poor, rural populations struggle to receive the medical care they desperately need. These non-Physician medical providers are pushing to practice independently without any Physician supervision in order to care for these populations in need and to make up for the lack of Physicians in the field. Some states allow their non-Physician providers to practice independently. Other states, however, are facing pushback from Physicians and the American Medical Association (AMA) who don’t believe Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners have the skills, education, or provide quality care to practice medicine on their own. Everyone, however, including these contrarians, can learn a lot about how these professions got started in the 1960s with the help, not the hostility, of patients, fellow Physicians, and organizations similar to the AMA. They can also learn much about the benefits of inter-professional collaboration which include decreased hospital stays, costs, diagnosis mistakes, overuse of resources, and divisions between professions. By learning about the history, challenges, and solutions of issues facing non-Physician providers and the benefits of collaboration, one can educate others about the factors that have come to make these professions what they are today and what can be done to improve them. In doing so, one can gain more support and resources from patients, Physicians, and organizations alike so that non-Physician providers can increase collaboration efforts and treat more populations.