Doctors of BC supports high-functioning health care teams whose members are empowered to work to the full depth of their scope of practice. Where changes to scopes of practice for health professionals are being explored, any proposed changes should support optimization of each team member’s skills and expertise and continue to protect quality of care and safety of patients.
Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC supports building a collaborative relationship with nurse practitioners (NPs) as part of a multidisciplinary approach to the provision of health care in BC. Maximizing the role of allied health professionals, including nurse practitioners, in the health system requires clear evidence-based processes for scope of practice changes that allows for stakeholder input and that respects well-defined titles such as “physician” or “doctor”.
Doctors of BC Position: Multidisciplinary primary care is an important component of a broader primary care approach designed to meet the challenges of the increasing prevalence of chronic disease, the growing needs of an aging population, and the ongoing concerns of patient access to primary care. To enhance multidisciplinary primary care in BC, Doctors of BC supports setting standards to guarantee patient safety and quality of care, funding to incorporate allied health providers, and physicians should have the option to operate in these teams as the clinical team leader.
Doctors of BC Position: Doctors of BC supports efforts to maximize the use of all members of the healthcare team from within their training and expertise. Scope of practice changes for allied health professionals should be substantiated by evidence of training and demonstrated expertise, ethical and appropriate, consistent with the best available scientific evidence, and should protect patient safety and quality of care.