I heard an EM physician mention that he had a fear, whether founded or completely ubsurd I am not sure, that EM physicians could be at least partly replaced by Nurse Practitioners or PA's. I believe such is going on in Miss. I have been pondering this for a couple of weeks, and I am not seeing this as a threatening possibility, but I would like more objective opinions please. If this is unclear, let me just make the example of CRNA's starting to replace, or at least serve in place rather than, anesthesiologists in some clinical areas (i.e. low risk plastic surgery at outpatient plastics suites). Do you all see something like this happening in the future to EM docs? Seems like the malpractice to cover an ED run by non-physicians could get astronomically high, but at the same time if malpractice takes on extreme reform, which IMO is a very real possibility in the face of such low healthcare access for many americans, and the solution of a single payer system possibly funded by tax dollars is inacted, then I could see many of the malpractice laws becoming more lax to accomodate the non-physician providers. Heck, I am probably being overly paranoid, but it is in my nature to question everything . . . my wife says I am crazy.
thanks forward to any good responses,
Kendall
www.healthnewsstat.org
thanks forward to any good responses,
Kendall
www.healthnewsstat.org