The definition of appropriate roles and functions for “New Health Professionals” (NHPs) has been widely debated in the health services literature since the introduction of this new manpower resource in the United States in the mid-1960's. While the emergence of these new practitioners has been well documented from a legal and educational standpoint, little research has focused upon the evolution of these roles in practice, specifically in relation to their position in the domain of health providers. In this report a survey of four types of NHPs documents and compares how each type classifies themselves in relation to the other types of NHPs as well as to the traditional health care providers (physicians and nurses). Multidimensional scaling techniques provide perceptual models of the health provider domain for Health Associates, Physician's Assistants, and Adult and Pediatric Nurse Practitioners; three general perspectives are derived. The principle difference in the solutions are in the conceptions of the Nurse Practitioner role. The findings challenge a major premise found in the literature: the concept of the NHP as a single professional role subsuming all types of NHPs. This premise was validated only for Health Associates and Physician's Assistants, not for Nurse Practitioners. These data provide the needed empirical basis for understanding the emerging role identities of NHPs:

Kentucky physicians' response to a new health professional.

Conflicting perceptions of the health provider domain by new health professionals.

The relative importance of various constraints on the employment of New Health Practitioners (NHPs) by physicians is assessed. Primary care physicians in Washington State were surveyed regarding their familiarity with and perceptions of NHPs. Almost 90 per cent of respondents were familiar with NHPs, and 47 per cent had thought about how an NHP would affect their practices. Physicians generally believed NHPs would have a neutral or positive impact on most aspects of their practices, though more than half were concerned about patient acceptance, administrative problems and reimbursement for NHP services. Fifty per cent of the physicians preferred working with other physicians, compared with only seven per cent choosing an NHP as a first choice for dealing with an increasing patient volume. Despite the generally favorable opinion of physicians about NHPs, physician preference for working with other physicians in conjunction with a rapidly increasing supply of primary care physicians may greatly limit future employment opportunities for NHPs.

Kentucky physicians' response to a new health professional.

Citations

Conflicting perceptions of the health provider domain by new health professionals.

Factors influencing the physician market for primary care new health practitioners.