The doctor " stretch ".

There is no doubt that this country is short of doctors. The shortage is so chronic that some country towns are without the services of a general practitioner - and even in the larger centres some doctors are so overworked that they have closed their books to new patients.
The only places that this does not apply is in affluent suburbs of the major cities, where doctors tend to congregate because the living is good and they command high salaries.
A solution to the problem has appeared, but as usual the medical profession is closing ranks and gearing up for a turf fight. The idea is to relegate some of the duties performed by general practitioners to clinical nurses working side by side with the doctor.
Many doctors are opposed because they believe that the only source of medical advice and treatment should come from a doctor, but common sense delivers a very different story.

How often does a patient attend a doctor simply to get scripts renewed ? How many times does a patient only need a referral renewal to the specialist they are attending ?
How many times is the visit to get the annual flu jab ?
None of these are either brain surgery or rocket science - and yet many doctors insist that they - and they alone - will attend to these patients.

If doctors would only come down off their high horse and work with a clinical nurse their practice would be more efficient and could handle a greater number of patients.
Nurses have the skill to recognise instances when a patient making a routine call needs to see the doctor - and insist on this happening.

The amazing thing is that nurses perform more of a doctor's function in public hospitals simple because the doctor numbers are not there, but use of their skills in general practice is being resisted.
The suggestion is that there should be one clinical nurse for each general practitioner - and if that was to happen doctor's would be relieved of nearly seventy percent of their work load.

Anything that improves the present chronic doctor shortage is worth serious consideration !