The debate over physician associates is necessary—but needlessly toxic

Pepperer. Grocer. Apothecary. Surgeon apothecary. General practitioner (https://www.apothecaries.org/history/origins).1 The evolution of medical associate professionals in the UK may not enjoy quite the same narrative arc, steeped as it is in workforce practicalities, but it does echo many of the controversies accompanying the introduction of apothecaries into medical practice.The Apothecaries Act of 1815 handed responsibility for medical training and education, previously unstandardised and based on apprenticeships, to the Society of Apothecaries (https://navigator.health.org.uk/theme/apothecaries-act-1815).2 In a lecture on the origins of general practitioners, the doctor and historian Irvine Loudon summarised the two contrarian views of the act as either “among the great reforming Acts of the 19th century” or “as a result of a degrading compromise” (https://bjgp.org/content/33/246/13.long).3Disputes over professional training and regulation are invariably heated, sometimes damaging. The return of medical apprenticeships, seen as one route to widening access to a medical career and retaining skills in local areas while meeting workforce needs,…
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