NPs Can Cure Healthcare, Too
A recent blog post on The Health Care Blog was titled, "Patient, Heal Thyself." Don Kemper, CEO of Healthwise, writes about how empowering patients to manage their own health will help to save the healthcare system in this country:
If you want a better system, support a smarter patient.
For weeks now Congress has been stymied by how to pay for extending coverage to the uninsured. While it may seem stupid to look to the patient for the answer, pumping more money into the current system would be the stupidest idea of all. Helping people to do more for their own health care may be the only thing that saves health care reform.
Many of the commenters agree that this is a good idea but perhaps too optimistic about patients' ability or willingness. Others say they think the problem is physician greed resulting in too many tests. Still others remind readers that even educated patients need immediate response or confirmation if dealing with acute symptoms, and that they wouldn't be able to get that in the current system.
Why doesn't Kemper mention utilizing the thousands of nurse practitioners in this country to do exactly what he dreams of in his post? Nurse practitioners can fill two roles here: patient educator and "first repsonder" to the patients' concerns.