Topic: When a nurse is a doctor...

With the sudden drop in doctors due to eay retirements Democrats are trying to do damage control before the news gets to hard to supress.

The newest idea is to call nurse practioners 'doctors'.

The question comes though, would this be able to work, or would it just increase theoretical numbers whie still resulting in drops.

Also would this be lying on something essential? If you are in duress who would you want treating you, a nurse called a doctor, or a real doctor? Will doctor lose its meaning entirely?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-nurse-practitioners-primarycare-20100413,0,3978346.story

I worked ina hospital environment for a year as a secured medical transport officer. I call a nurse a nurse and a doctor a doctor for skills.

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Re: When a nurse is a doctor...

fair point, although for most things a nurse practicioner is just as skilled as a doctor. for anything else they'd just do what GP's do and refer you to a specialist.

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Re: When a nurse is a doctor...

Yes, such as Doctors are taught in practitioning about lawsuits.  Nurses are not.  Nurses are told "do this" or "do that" or "administer so many cc's per hour daily for a week".  A nurse is nothing like a doctor.  They do not diagnose possible problems or treatments.  They list a patients symptoms if they can be physically identified.

But a nurse as a practitioner leaves all sorts of room for all sorts of legal problems.  For one a nurse is a nurse.  A doctor is a doctor.  And a nurse learning to be a doctor is still in school.

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Re: When a nurse is a doctor...

erm nurse practitioners are taught about these things, and they do diagnose etc..  where the issues lie is in nurses calling themselves by this title without actually having done the required long course.

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Re: When a nurse is a doctor...

As a paralegal I say this stinks because the worst thing you can do for the client is think you know something you were never taught. Yes maybe a nurse will be competent to handle a simple cold or fever. But the nurse will not know whether they are confronted with a cold or fever or something worse. They lack thousands of hours of instruction.

This change is not done because doctors are obsolete and we dance because we are free of their dark tyranny

It is done because we can't afford to have enough doctors.

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