October 31, 2024 – The occupation of nurse practitioner is growing at a fast clip, and nurse practitioners’ roles are broadening, according to experts.
An Oct. 21 Boston Globe article described how nurse practitioners in some states are increasingly doing work that has traditionally been done by doctors—such as prescribing medications, making diagnoses, ordering tests, or overseeing treatments—and how that is creating tension between the two groups on issues such as training, experience, and pay.
Two Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health experts—Michael Barnett and Maggie Sullivan—were quoted in the article.
“One of the most intense and acrimonious, nonpartisan policy debates right now is between MDs and NPs,†said Barnett, associate professor of health policy and management. He noted that “there are a lot of MDs that resent the authority that NPs get with a fraction of the training that they have.â€
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who also complete a master’s of science in nursing or a doctor of nursing practice.
Sullivan, a Harvard Chan instructor and a nurse practitioner herself, said that sometimes doctors underestimate the capabilities of nurse practitioners.
“As a nurse practitioner who’s experienced, it is really frustrating to be working side-by-side with a physician fresh out of residency, who is very much thinking that their training and practice is superior to yours,†she said.
Part of the reason for nurse practitioners’ expanding role is that their services are needed, since fewer and fewer doctors are opting to work in primary care. Noted Barnett, “The supply of physicians has not kept up and has barely kept up with population growth in the U.S.â€
He added, “Nurse practitioners are clearly ascendant in the market. And MDs are not doing anything to slow down that enormous economic trend.â€
Read the Boston Globe article: Are nurse practitioners replacing doctors? They’re definitely reshaping health care.
Photo: iStock/Hispanolistic
