Say Hello to ‘Dr. Nurse’

If you are a caregiver like me you will realize the importance of this new breed of nurses.

Physicians and the medical field are resisting this new change.

Not only are nurse doctors necessary they will be welcomed with open arms by our aging population.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Nursing schools are making a push to award doctor of nursing degrees, a move that has some physicians and nurses worried, the WSJ’s Laura Landro reports. A fresh supply of well-trained primary care practitioners could help counter a physician shortage. The goal is to create “hybrid practitioner” who will have more skills and training than a nurse practitioner with a master’s degree But wait, nurse advocates say, there’s a nursing shortage too. “Nurse practitioners with master’s degrees are already filling the primary care shortages and providing quality, cost-effective care, many times in places that physicians are unwilling to practice,” says Wendy Vogel, a nurse practitioner specializing in oncology at Blue Ridge Medical Specialists in Bristol, Tenn. “Nurses with an advanced degree are not the same as doctors who have been to medical school,” says Roger Moore, incoming president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.