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| Home > Healthy People > July 2002 |
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July - September, 2002 |
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What is a mid-level provider?
Mid-level providers are assisting physicians in
practices of all varieties
Mid-level providers serve in collaborative roles with physicians in all specialties in acute care and clinic settings. Both nurse practitioners and physician assistants are nationally certified and state licensed to provide diagnostic, treatment and follow-up care under the direction of a physician.
The main difference between a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant is the educational background, says Ashley Kubik, CNP, St. John's Smith-Glynn-Callaway Pulmonary. Kubik is the chair of a mid-level provider council started at St. John's last year to facilitate better communication among mid-level providers and the patients and communities they serve. The council's goals include establishing clinical roles, promoting mid-level practice and serving as a resource for health care providers
Providing leadership for mid-level providers and collaborating with the recruitment office at St. John's to attract new providers to the Health System is also a goal.
"To be a nurse practitioner, you have to be an R.N. first," she says. "Nurse practitioners also have master's degrees and follow a nursing model of education."
Physician assistants follow a medical model, and while they also sit for a board examination and are state licensed, they are not required to have post-secondary degrees.
Family physicians have utilized mid-level providers in extending the availability of health care more than any other medical specialty, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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