Center for Workforce Studies, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Washington, DC, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Jun;32(6):1135-42. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1150.
Impending physician shortages in the United States will necessitate greater reliance on physician assistants and nurse practitioners, particularly in primary care. But how willing are Americans to accept that change? This study examines provider preferences from patients' perspective, using data from the Association of American Medical Colleges' Consumer Survey. We found that about half of the respondents preferred to have a physician as their primary care provider. However, when presented with scenarios wherein they could see a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner sooner than a physician, most elected to see one of the other health care professionals instead of waiting. Although our findings provide evidence that US consumers are open to the idea of receiving care from physician assistants and nurse practitioners, it is important to consider barriers to more widespread use, such as scope-of-practice regulations. Policy makers should incorporate such evidence into solutions for the physician shortage.
美国即将出现的医生短缺将需要更多地依赖医生助理和执业护士，尤其是在初级保健领域。但是美国人愿意接受这种变化吗？本研究使用美国医学院协会消费者调查的数据，从患者的角度考察了提供者的偏好。我们发现，大约一半的受访者更希望由医生作为他们的初级保健提供者。然而，当提供他们可以更早看到医生助理或执业护士而不是医生的情况下，大多数人选择了看其他医疗保健专业人员而不是等待。尽管我们的研究结果表明，美国消费者对接受医生助理和执业护士治疗的想法持开放态度，但重要的是要考虑到更广泛使用的障碍，例如执业范围法规。政策制定者应将此类证据纳入解决医生短缺问题的方案中。
