Reading between the lines, a NP is not really a doctor, but then not really a nurse either. The NP does some of the role of the doctor, but yet not a doctor. So to me reading the article, a NP is a pseudo doctor. And since the NP doesn't actually go through the full med school syllabus but a modified, cut down version, then to me that sounds "half-trained" as a doctor.

I do not have the answer to a problem that is faced world wide. In countries whereby healthcare is still working, the formula seems to be the established system of defined roles. And the success due to health care staff: patient ratio. Also a lot of public education of sharing of a limited resource of healthcare.

While admittedly most "medical work" in the community is non life and death, there are enough case examples of patients slipping between the cracks of the system because staff are not trained to recognise it or how to refer it on appropriately.While a statistician may say 1 in a few thousand is a reasonable risk, to me a life is still a life. One lost life due to incompetance is one life too many. If you don't have resource and a life is lost, you couldn't have prevented it. But if you want to staff it and spread your catchment area, then do a good job and not a half-hearted, band-aid attempt. Get it done right or don't do it at all! Don't create false expectations. It is not like we have an endless resource for trial and error. Fix it using a formula that has worked before

We are in this current health care impasse because no one has the guts to make the hard decision for a long term prospective. It's a "as long it doesn't happen on my watch" attitude and passing the buck. It is like the whole global warming debate. Do the hard thing now and do it right, or have band aid approaches and suffer the consequence later.

Australia had one of the best healthcare in the world before. A huge reason was the current set up but with better staff:patient ratios. If that formula worked, stick to it and catch up with what has changed.

As for non "life and death" situations,this is already part of existing nursing training. How does NP degrees add anything else? Besides, unless medically trained, innoculations have risks of anaphlactic reactions requiring intubation. Of which require medical (not NP) training. Pre-/post-natal care, infectious diseases etc also require management plan for life-threatening complications.If not medically trained, would that have been noted?

Goes back to point that if nurse's role as is currently defined, there are no false expectations. No added benefit of taking on medical roles of a doctor if not trained in management of the whole gamut of complications. Far better to just have more nurses in isolated communities to do nursing duties, have good ambulance support for resuscitation/stabilisation, and have good staffing in hospitals to refer as required. Wasting money and time to train existing nurses to be NP adds nothing and risks many.

Yes nurses can alleviate a lot of work-load and freeing up GPs. But we need more nurses and doctors! Not changing and amalgamating an already small pool of staff into more complicated permutations. We have limited financial/ human resources. Like the global-warming race, we have no time. Stick to something that has worked. Fix the ratios that tipped the balance. Creating new job description of NP adds nothing to the end equation.

Having read all the comments, I can only voice my personal opinion that reading the article, the idea of more N.P'S IN THE Health System was a positive, until I found that the qualification was to be a nurse with a MASTERS DEGREE! Here was I, thinking we were talking about a kind of PARA-MEDICAL LIKE AN AMBULANCE PARA-MEDIC who I have found to be great practical help even more capable than many Doctors:- Interns or Registrars, because of their practical experience in emergencies. Sure, Doctors tired and overworked can make mistakes,but are the best qualified to diagnose.But we all know hypochondriacs and others really only needing someone to talk to; who take up Doctor's time.If I were a Doctor who had an assistant who made no final decisions but saw my patients first to assess the most needy, that would help my work-load.

When I have come down with a minor ailment, or need medication advice.

I ask our local Pharmacist, done well by me so far and saved the GPs time.

Our current system of caring for the ill has developed much like the “qwerty” keyboard. That is, from a past age to suit past technologies and systems. There are those who still perceive nurses as doctor’s handmaidens and others who believe that registrars should be worked till they drop merely because that is the way the system has always worked.
We are faced with a world that has changed it’s treatment, technology and even our perception of health care since the lady with the lamp. In other pursuits, the need is what drives the delivery….we need to re think the whole system, or sets of systems. We need to eliminate the elitism and traditionalism of a system whose rewards and perception pits one set of professionals against another. I think nomenclature in this situation is hindering what is a well overdue overhaul.
I believe in ancient china you paid your practitioner only while you stayed well, they receive nothing if you grew ill and were therefore driven to prevent illness and if you still got crook, they worked very hard to make you well!

I was looking for the agenda, I note the author credentials “Amanda Sherratt was a UK nurse practitioner for five years and moved to Perth to co-ordinate the Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) program at Curtin University of Technology.”

Well if you need a doctor, you better see a doctor because this sounds like a plan to dumb-down the patient services whilst improving the income of nurses at the expense of professional doctor services.

Some folk might go to an accountant for tax advise, others are happy with the “technicians” of H&R Block. We are all at liberty to take the cheap option with your tax returns but doing the same with your health is a far more dangerous game.