Nurse scope-of-practice controversy continues

Despite policy analysts calling for more liberal scope-of-practice regulations for nurse practitioners to meet growing demand, new research reveals a nurse-doctor disconnect over giving NPs more professional leeway. Physicians and nurses not only perceive their primary care roles and skills differently, but also the effects of expanded NP roles on cost and care quality, according to a survey of 972 clinicians published in New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital found more than 66 percent of surveyed physicians agreed that doctors provide a "higher quality of examination and consultation" than NPs, while more than three-quarters of the surveyed NPs disagreed. >> Read the full article at FierceHealthcare