New Trend in Healthcare Industry in Using the Service of a Nurse Practitioner Doctor

1. New Trend in Healthcare Industry in Using the Service of a Nurse Practitioner Doctor A new trend in the healthcare industry is the growing popularity of the nurse practitioner doctor. Until recently patients and those related to them approached a doctor, hospital, and/or health clinic to get treatments. Healthcare service providers were primary care doctors, general doctors, and specialist doctors. Many patients depended on family doctors. Some of the patients and their companions preferred health clinics where they could find all types of doctors. All these were good options but the main concern for the clients was the expenses involved. An effective solution for the clients was approaching a nurse practitioner doctor. What is the Features of the Nurse Practitioner Doctor Like the regular doctors a nurse practitioner also provides primary healthcare services. They are registered practitioner with academic education and training. Such professional people can offer a host of services like those provided by a physicians family care doctor. Usually the nurse practitioner provides the followings. • A nurse practitioner can diagnose the health issues; • She can conduct various lab tests; • Manage healthcare of the patients; and • Assumes the role of a primary care doctor. Dispensing Practice of Visiting Primary Care Physician Office One of the major advantages of obtaining the services of a nurse practitioner is that it helps dispensing with the visit to the primary care physician office. This is because besides providing a host of primary healthcare services the nurse practitioner can also write prescriptions like a regular doctor. Most often the clinics run by the nurse practitioner doctor function under the overall supervision of an experienced doctor. An experienced nurse practitioner can render all the services offered by a doctor. The prices charged are lower than what a doctor charges. Only thing the nurse practitioner cannot provide is surgical operations. Differences between Nurse Practitioner and Doctor While the nurse practitioner and doctors have many similarities there are some differences as well. Important differences between the nurse practitioner are as follows – • Nurse practitioners undergo more training than registered nurses but less training than doctors; • Doctors including the physicians family care doctor undergo more rigorous training in comparison; • Licenses for nurse practitioners are issued by Nursing Board whereas the doctors are licensed by the Medical Board;

2. • Getting an appointment from nurse practitioner is easier than getting the appointment from the primary care physician office. Balancing the Non-availability of Regular Doctors In recent times United States is facing acute shortage of doctors. Estimation by the Association of American Medical College the shortage of doctors can go up to 120,000 by the year 2030. The largest shortfall is in case of primary care doctors. Running to the primary care physician office does not serve any purpose because such physicians around. That is where nurse practitioner can step in filling out the gap providing all types of primary healthcare services for patients. They can even assume the role of physicians family care doctor providing all necessary services and can also refer the patient to specialists if necessary.