Though knowledge about physician's assistants and nurse practitioners is far from conclusive, these new health practitioners (NHPs) appear to perform a large percentage of primary care services at a high level of quality and productivity. Moreover, the gap between the physician/NHP substitution ratio and the NHP/physician cost ratio seems wide enough to assure cost savings when NHPs are used well.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

PubMed1978

A course in emergency care for first-year medical students.

A 52-hour course in emergency medicine for first-year medical students was developed from the Department of Transportation's (DOT) training program for emergency medical technicians (EMT). The objective of the course was to train students to provide life support and emergency care in the field at the level of competence of the EMT. Ninety-four percent of the first class met these standards on written examination. Problems in the course included over-simplified presentations by paraprofessional faculty and an overemphasis on inhospital management by physician faculty. The program is well received by students and allows for introduction of clinical material into the first-year curriculum. The DOT training program for the EMT provides a useful model that, with slight adaptation, is appropriate for the first-year medical student.

Audiovisual Aids↗

PubMed1977

Interprofessional education of the new health practitioner.

This is a report of a survey of the interprofessional education activities included in 54 physician's assistant and 60 nurse practitioner programs. In a majority of such new health practitioner programs, the importance of interprofessional education as a part of training for team health care delivery has been recognized, and some structured interprofessional activity has been provided. A variety of methods are being used to achieve the objectives of effective team delivery of primary health care, including the mixing of students in both classroom and clinical settings and the inclusion of specific courses on role and professional identity. Seventy percent of physician's assistant students and 38 percent of nurse practitioner students in the programs included in the study have at least one classroom activity shared with another health profession group, most commonly medical students. Only a surprisingly small percentage of programs were involved in any evaluation of their interprofessional activities. In spite of the primary care orientation of new health practitioner programs, less than 40 percent offer clinical experience on a health team in a primary care setting.

District of Columbia↗

PubMed1977