Physicians Vs Nurse Practitioners Essay

The controversy over the roles of physicians and nurse practitioners in primary care in the United States has been heatedly discussed over the past years. Although many may not even know the difference between the two, the issue is very important to those with the careers. A nurse practitioner is an alternative career for professionals who want to work in advanced healthcare but do not wish to make the commitment necessary to become a physician ("Nurse Practitioner vs Physician Assistant."). Physicians and nurse practitioners are different in their education and approach to care. Physicians study medicine and disease, while nurse practitioners study how to care for the sick. However, both are able to give the same to their patients.

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For this to happen, nurse practitioners would lead medical practices and teams and tend to numerous patients in hospitals. While doing this, they would be paid the same as physicians. Nevertheless, many physicians opposed this idea. Although 95.6% of nurse practitioners and 76.3% of physicians agreed that nurse practitioners should be capable of performing to the highest degree of their training and that adding them to primary care would improve quality, that was the end of it (Iglehart). Nurse practitioners believed that because they could do the same practices a physician could do, they deserved to earn the same amount of money as physicians. However, physicians disagreed. Many felt that they provided better care than nurse practitioners and that bringing more of them in would not exactly enhance quality, safety, or effectiveness of care. Yet, studies have found that “there have been over 100 studies of nurse practitioner practice by both nursing and medicine and not a single one has shown any negative impact on patients or patients’ healthcare when nurse practitioner’s care has been compared to physician care.” and that “nurse practitioner care is at least equivalent and superior to physician care” (“What is the Difference Between a Physician and a Nurse Practitioner?”). Nurse practitioners are not inferior and do not deserve to be belittled by