Mid-level practitioner

Mid-level practitioners, also referred to as Assistant practice clinicians, are health care providers who have received different training and have a more restricted scope of practice than physicians and other health professionals in some states, but who do have a formal certificate and accreditation through the licensing bodies in their jurisdictions.[1]

Because of their diverse histories, a multitude of mid-level health worker categories can be found in different countries under different titles. Their training, functions, scope of practice, regulation, and integration into the formal health system vary from country to country. Mid-level practitioners have many different titles, e.g. physician assistant, clinical officer, pharmacist, or nurse practitioner. They are increasingly being used to render services autonomously, particularly in rural and remote areas, to make up for physician shortages.[2]

MLPs by country

South Africa

In 2008, a new mid-level practitioner role was introduced in South Africa, known as clinical associates. The role was intended to support the district hospital workforce.[3]

United States

In the United States, mid-level practitioner was a term used historically to describe the category of health care providers colloquially considered 'below' the physician but above most 'base' health professionals. In recent years multiple organizations and specialties have proposed the discontinuance of the term mid level in reference to professional practitioners whom are not medical doctors.[4][5][6][7] This shift follows a change in paradigm toward a collaborative team based care model, whereby no one professional is dominant.[8][9]

The term mid-level practitioner or mid-level provider related to the occupational closure of healthcare. This concept centered around medical doctors as the penultimate professional responsible for healthcare. As healthcare demands have increased in the United States due to an aging population, a physician shortage and the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 there has been a shift toward more independence in practice for professionals such as advanced practice nurses, pharmacists, dentists, podiatrists, dental therapists and physician assistants who were previously described as part of this category.[10]

As an example of a shift away from the The US Medicare system terms both advanced practice nurses and physician assistants as "non-physician practitioner" (NPP).[11] Medicare will pay for emergency department services when these services meet the critical care services definition and requirements.[12]

Controversy

The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) released a position statement in 2009, updated in 2010, 2013 and 2015 denouncing the use of several relegating terminology. Terms such as "mid-level provider," "physician extender," "limited license provider," "non-physician provider," and "allied health provider" when referring to nurse practitioners are considered derogatory by the AANP.[13] The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners prefers that nurse practitioners are referred to as "Nurse Practitioners," "independently licensed providers," "primary-care providers," "health-care professionals," and "clinicians." in reference to the legal and professional paradigm that nursing practice is considered separate and independent of other licensed professionals.[14]

Drug Enforcement Administration

The term mid-level practitioner as found in the DEA classification in Section 1300.01(b28), Title 21, of the Code of Federal Regulations is not a health care designation and must not be confused with the term as it is defined above. The DEA uses the term mid-level as a means of organizing its drug diversion activities. The term mid-level practitioner as used by the DEA Office of Diversion Control include clinicians, other than a physician, veterinarian, or podiatrist, who are licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted to dispense a controlled substance in the course of professional practice.[15][16] Some health professionals considered mid-level practitioners by the United States DEA solely for the purposes of drug diversion control include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lehmann, U (2008), Mid-level health workers: The state of the evidence on programmes, activities, costs and impact on health outcomes - A literature review (PDF), Geneva: World Health Organisation
  2. ↑ Mid-level health providers: a promising resource to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals (PDF), Geneva: World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Alliance, 2010
  3. ↑ Doherty, J; Conco, D; Couper, I; Fonn, S (2013). "Developing a new mid-level health worker: lessons from South Africa’s experience with clinical associates". Global Health Action 6: 19282. doi:10.3402/gha.v6i0.19282.
  4. ↑ Use of Terms Such as Mid-Level Provider and Physician Extender (PDF), American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2015, retrieved 10 April 2016
  5. ↑ Use of Terms Such as Mid-Level Provider and Physician Extender (PDF), Emergency Nurses Association, 2011, retrieved 14 April 2016
  6. ↑ Don't Call PAs Midlevel Providers, Physician Practice Periodical, 2014, retrieved 14 April 2016
  7. ↑ Stop calling nurse practitioners mid-level providers, MedPage Today's KevinMD, 2014, retrieved 14 April 2016
  8. ↑ A Team-Based Approach to Primary Care, University of California San Fransicisco, 2014, retrieved 14 April 2016
  9. ↑ Core Principles & Values of Effective Team-Based Health Care (PDF), Natioanl Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, 2012, retrieved 14 April 2016
  10. ↑ Mid-Level Providers in a Changing Healthcare Workforce, Becker's Hospital Review, 2010, retrieved 14 April 2016
  11. ↑ http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R1776B3.pdf, Medicare Carriers Manual by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pursuant to Transmittal 1776, implemented on October 25, 2002, Accessed 11 June 2011
  12. ↑ http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM5993.pdf, Medicare Carriers Manual by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pursuant to Transmittal 1548, 2008, Accessed 11 June 2011
  13. ↑ Use of Terms Such as Mid-Level Provider and Physician Extender (PDF), American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 2015, retrieved 10 April 2016
  14. ↑ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2960214-6/fulltext Devi, Sharmila, US nurse practitioners push for more responsibilities, The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9766, Pages 625 - 626, 19 February 2011, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60214-6, Accessed 11 June 2011.
  15. ↑ http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/practioners/index.html, U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Diversion Control, Mid-Level Practitioners Authorization by State, Accessed 11 June 2011.
  16. ↑ http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/practioners/mlp_by_state.pdf, U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Diversion Control, Mid-Level Practitioners Authorization by StateChart, Accessed 11 June 2011.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.