ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSING - IS THE PHYSICIANS ASSISTANT AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY OR A FAILURE TO ACT (REPRINTED FROM CLINICAL EXCELLENCE FOR NURSE PRACTITIONERS, VOL 1, PG 337-41, 1997)

The medical profession has attempted for several decades to establish collaborative relationships with the nursing profession. The reported responses of some nursing professional organizations to these overture s may be responsible for the development of the physician assistant pr ofession and should occasion consideration of the voices heard from th ese organizations today. The nursing profession should examine its pas t responses to these overtures, reflect on its status in the 1990s, an d learn from its past while planning strategies to cope with the curre nt chaos in health care.