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THE PHYSICIAN'S ASSISTANT A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC AT HOME AND ABROAD
Author(s) -
McTernan Edmund J.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb128279.x
Subject(s) - physician assistants , nurse practitioners , primary care physician , nursing , primary care , medical care , family medicine , medicine , health care , political science , law
Non‐physician primary care providers (physicians' assistants) have existed in under‐developed or emerging nations, in various forms, for many years. It is only recently, however, that this concept has been introduced into countries with more advanced economic and medical care systems. An active and rapidly developing physician's assistant movement has been organized in the United States since the early 1960s; physician's assistants and nurse practitioners may now be found in almost every one of the 50 United States. Recently, this kind of concept has been suggested as a possibility for improving the Australian medical care system. This article explores the history and present status of the physician's assistant/nurse practitioner movement in the American medical care scene.