Doctors and Nurses
Doctor shortage? Why not use shorter courses to train nurses as doctors?
A nurse in the UK was recently in court charged with fraud for working as a doctor for the last 20 years. It would be a funny kind of fraud, because in return for a million quid she’d worked full-time treating patients as a psychiatrist. As far as the media reports go, she’d worked for a number of health authorties who had not raised any concerns. Presumably, she helped hundreds of patients just like any regular doctor?
Meanwhile, all nurses are highly trained medical professionals in themselves. In recent years, they’ve taken on more and more clinical responsibilities. And we’re often being told that there’s a doctor shortage.
Here’s a thought. If you’re an experienced nurse who fancies being a doctor then it’ll take you maybe 7 years from start to finish to get a job as a junior doctor starting on a lower salarly you are earning just now (although rising greatly over the following dozen years). In the meantime, you’ll have to forego half a dozen years of salary; maybe a quarter of a million pounds. It’s hardly surprising few take that route.
And yet, it very well might be that the knowledge and skills gap between junior doctors and senior nurses is not all it’s cracked up to be. Might it be practicable for nurses to study on the job, keep their salaries and get released for full-time periods of study over, say, a 4 year period and come out a doctor at the end of it? Very possibly. Imagine the benefits — more doctors in short order and a prestigious vocational route to encourage nursing recruitment.
No need to imagine, actually. In theory. The UK government has already announced such a scheme. Mind you, that happened in 2020 to a less than enthusiastic fanfare from the medical professions. Wonder how it’s coming along today?
