Whatever You Want to Think About Nurse Practitioners, There’s a Survey to Back It Up

If you look hard enough, you can often find a survey or poll to support your stance on an issue, whatever it may be. But in some cases, you don’t need to look hard at all. A range of “majority opinions” flows freely.
Such is the case with opinions on advanced practice registered nurses, including nurse practitioners, and how involved they should be in care delivery. The turf war between  physicians and mid-level providers isn’t exactly unexpected, given the professional prestige at stake for each. Many physicians and nurse practitioners have substantially different perceptions about their roles.
For instance, about two-thirds of physicians said if a physician and NP provided the same service, physicians would do it better, according to a May 2013 survey from the New England Journal of Medicine. Seventy-five percent of nurse practitioners disagreed with that statement. That same survey found 82 percent of nurse practitioners felt NPs should lead medical homes, whereas only 17 percent of doctors felt the same.
Those are some considerable gaps in opinion, but then again, those respondents are on different sides of a lengthy argument in the medical community. It’d be news if physicians and NPs didn’t disagree on this issue.
What is more surprising is the clash of consumer or patient surveys, even in the past six months alone. Below are two recent survey results we’ve covered at Becker’s Hospital Review:
Survey: Consumers Open to Larger Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner Roles (June 2013) The Association of American Medical Colleges’ Consumer Survey recently found patients welcome PAs and NPs to play a larger role in their care, according to an article in Health Affairs. When survey respondents were asked which provider — a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner — they would prefer to see, 50.3 percent opted for a physician, according to the article. However, when respondents were presented with a scenario of seeing a PA or NP today as opposed to a physician tomorrow for a worsening cough, 59.6 percent chose to be seen by a PA or NP.* Survey data was based on responses from 2,053 adults who indicated that they or a physician believed they needed medical care at least once in the past year, according to the article.
Poll: Americans Prefer to See Physicians (December 2013) A majority — 72 percent — of Americans prefer to see a physician over a nonphysician provider for their medical care, according to a survey conducted by Iposos, a private research think tank. Additionally, 90 percent would choose a physician to lead their “ideal medical team,” while only 1 in 10 respondents would choose a nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant or chiropractor to do the same.
* Results are based on a survey of 1,000 adults and 363 opinion leaders (people registered to vote, have at least a college degree, are over 25, are employed or looking for work, make more than $50,000 annually, are heavy news consumers and are politically engaged) conducted between Nov. 8 and Nov. 15.
It’s unlikely the consensus changed that dramatically in six months. The biggest takeaway from these surveys is that we are in need of more scientific studies and national data — not surveys or polls — on differences in care delivery that is physician- or advanced practitioner-led.