Are there practices that are limited in the US to medical doctors that are not limited to similar professionals in other nations? In other words, do doctors in the US have more of a “monopoly” for lack of a better term on medical work than docs in some other nations? Since I grew up in the 1970s there has been a growth in the number of phys. assts and nurse practioners in the United States it seems, but I don’t know if this is a cost containment practice or option that is more common elsewhere. At least in nations’ where the state is strong enough to regulate the practice of medicine.
I guess this may hinge on the tradition of what educational/professional structure there is to medical delivery (i.e., do most nations have a nurse/doctor divsion of labor?).
A few years back, while I was living in Miami, I got a little lump in one of my breasts. So, I hopped over to the University’s Medical Center; the doctor examined me and gave me a referral for a Specialist.
I’m still trying to understand:
what’s the relationship between “a lump in my breast” and “a Surgeon”. I would have expected Gyne, Derma or Onco. In the end it was just a Derma thing (a small lump of fat that dissolved by itself), thanks God, because if it had been serious I’d be dead given the kind of attention I got. In Spain the Surgeon comes after the “clinical” specialists; often you don’t even get to meet “the guy with the scalpel” until you’re about to get your anesthesia. Also, in Spain someone who is qualified as a Surgeon for a Clinical specialty (for example, a Gyne who’s qualified as an Obstetric Surgeon) does not introduce himself as a Surgeon unless he’s actually going to be doing surgery; in the US, “Surgeon” seems to somehow be a bigger title than “Doctor”, in Spain it’s a scarier one.
why was it the doctor who took a sample of fluid. In Spain it would have been a Nurse or Assistant Nurse.
Most nations DO have a division between Doctor and Nurse. How it’s handled is quite different. One of the things that mark the difference between a good Doc and a bad one is knowing when to take the nurse’s advice (one who leans on the nurse too much is as bad as one who never does) and there are also many situations where necessity makes them interchangeable.
I believe the rationale would be, that until the nature of the mass is known, it is a surgical situation. Even if the mass is ID’d via a needle aspirate, it is the surgeon who would do this since the needle aspirate would be done with the possibility of future surgery, and the needle track would likely need to be removed at the time of surgery.
Once the “lump” has been ID’d, then the oncologist could comment.
given the kind of attention I got. In Spain the Surgeon comes after the “clinical” specialists; often you don’t even get to meet “the guy with the scalpel” until you’re about to get your anesthesia. Also, in Spain someone who is qualified as a Surgeon for a Clinical specialty (for example, a Gyne who’s qualified as an Obstetric Surgeon) does not introduce himself as a Surgeon unless he’s actually going to be doing surgery; in the US, “Surgeon” seems to somehow be a bigger title than “Doctor”, in Spain it’s a scarier one.