Nurse Practitioners Can Ease Doctor Shortage in Michigan

Michigan faces a shortage of doctors and it will grow as millions of Americans qualify for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, so nurse practitioners can ease the shortage, reports indicate.

Michigan already faces a shortage of doctors much larger than the national average, and it will grow as millions of Americans qualify for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Nurse practitioners can ease physician shortage, reports indicate.

Yet Michigan law prevents the medical professionals who could best mitigate this shortage from doing so, because it prohibits advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) from using the full scope of their training and education to treat patients.

Nurturing Our Nurses for Healthcare Par Excellence
Nobility, thy name is Nursing Care, comfort, and compassion are traits sacrosanct to the nursing profession, just as dedication and patience are its greatest virtues.

"Current regulations make it more difficult to provide much needed care," said Joanne Pohl, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

Pohl, former director of the U-M's Adult Nurse Practitioner Program, testified before Michigan's Senate Health Policy Committee on behalf of Senate Bill 481, which would allow nurse practitioners to practice under their own license, independently of physicians.

Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia have passed similar legislation allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe medications and practice physical and speech therapy, among other responsibilities.

International Nurses Day
Nurses are in acute shortage, world wide. This need must be addressed ad hoc, to divert a global health- care crisis.

Kathleen Potempa, dean of the U-M School of Nursing, believes the legislation is essential for plugging the hole left by the physician shortage, and for meeting the health care needs of Michigan citizens. It's also an issue for citizens in states with similar prohibitions on APRNs. Potempa cites a 2010 Institute of Medicine report stating that laws limiting the practice of APRNs are barriers to providing the optimal health care and that finds nurse practitioners and other APRNs highly competent in providing primary care.

"APRN education is carefully regulated through national standards for curriculum and certification examinations," Potempa said. "In practice, they must prove their proficiency through national boards, similar to how most medical specialties are regulated."

Nurses Play Key Role in Patient Feeding
Nurses played a vital role in feeding people and restoring their humanity in times of great crisis, as was the case when Bergen-Belsen was liberated in 1945 at the end of World War II.

Pohl told the senate committee that Michigan's health professional shortage will worsen without the legislation.

"(APRNs) know that Michigan has the reputation for not being nurse practitioner friendly from a regulatory sense and more are leaving and going to states where regulation is in alignment with national standards," she said.

Nurses Should Know Full Medical and Social Conditions of Patients, Says Healthcare Expert
For effective healthcare nurse should understand the medical and social conditions of every patient fully and show utmost compassion in dealing with people under their care.

A recent Michigan Academy of Family Physicians report finds that 45 percent of Michigan physicians plan to retire within 10 years. Michigan's average ratio of residents to primary care doctors is 874:1, compared to a national average of 631:1. The report also quotes statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which predicts a shortage of 8,000 to 12,000 physicians by 2020, with primary care physicians accounting for about 4,000 of the shortage.

Source-Eurekalert