Support From Physicians for Advanced Nurse Practitioners
Increasing Acceptance Among Physicians
Despite resistance within the nursing profession, physicians have increasingly accepted Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) in individual healthcare practices. In these local practices, ANPs and MDs established collegial relationships, negotiating work boundaries and reaching agreements about their collaborative practice.
Negotiations in the ANP-MD Dyad
In the ANP-MD dyad, negotiations centered on the ANP’s right to practice essential parts of traditional medicine, including:
- Performing physical examinations
- Eliciting patient symptoms
- Creating diagnoses
- Formulating treatment options
- Prescribing treatment
- Making decisions about prognosis
(Fairman, 2002, pp. 163–164)
Importance of Proximity and Supervision
The proximity of a supervising physician was considered key to effective practice, and on-site supervision was the norm. Grassroots acceptance of the ANP role depended on tight physician supervision and control of the protocols under which ANPs practiced. This supervision benefitted newly certified, inexperienced ANPs. According to Corene Johnson:
“Initially, we had to always have a physician on site. … I didn’t resent that. Actually, I needed the backup” (Fairman, 2002, p. 164).