A recent story in The Economist focused on innovations in healthcare delivery reducing the role of physicians. Instead of physicians having a hand in every aspect of patient care, they are leaving less complex duties to nurses, physician assistants, and technology.
Counterintuitive as it may seem, this could be a positive step for the industry.
It’s important to note that physician roles aren’t being phased out. Physicians choose a stressful career and are constantly in danger of medical burnout, so delegating some responsibility is healthy. It also allows physicians to increase focus on complicated tasks that make better use of their intensive training.
Nurses, physician assistants, and other health workers get the benefit of a more fulfilling career. In the current environment, there are many duties physicians perform that can be effectively completed by these lesser-trained health workers.
In the Economist story, James Cawley of George Washington University claims physician assistants can do about 85% of the work of a general practitioner. It’s already been shown that nurse practitioners are an underused resource.
So, it only makes sense to allow these workers to properly utilize their abilities. And most important are the patients, who will benefit greatly from these types of practices.
The primary benefit comes from a reduction in healthcare costs. When physicians are able to serve more patients, it becomes less necessary for them to charge a high premium for their services.
Not only that but there is more physician time to go around when it is truly needed. Patients may not need a doctor to check their heart with a stethoscope, but one is most certainly needed to perform open-heart surgery. Better allocation of duties means better care for patients.
What do you think? Should physicians take a more supervisory approach to practice medicine?
Do you know what you need when setting up a new medical practice?
