What is a doctor and what is a nurse? A perspective for future practice and education

Abstract

Academic Medicine's 2013 Question of the Year (QOTY) asked, "What is a doctor? What is a nurse?" In this commentary, after analyzing the published responses to the 2013 QOTY, the authors offer an assessment of the evolution of the interprofessional interaction between physicians and nurses. Finally, they examine the role of health professions education in shaping the future professional roles and scopes of practice for physicians and nurses. The authors intend to carry the discussion from the present tense (What is a doctor? What is a nurse?) into the future (What will the future team of health care professionals require?) to provide a discussion of challenges to academic medicine and academic nursing in preparing the next generation of health professionals.