Foreign-trained docs as good as US physicians � report - Arab News

A US study published in the journal Health Affairs found that physicians trained in other countries provide care just as good as US doctors, and another found that nurse anesthetists can safely provide care without doctors supervising them.

WASHINGTON: Nurse anesthetists can safely provide care without doctors supervising them, according to a report released on Tuesday.

And a second report found that physicians trained in other countries provide care just as good as US doctors.

Both reports, published in the journal Health Affairs, suggest ways to help provide care to more Americans at potentially lower cost, just as health care reform promises to extend health coverage to millions who do not have it.

"Nurse anesthetists get essentially the same training in anesthesia as anesthesiologists. So in this case, a nurse is just about a perfect substitute for the doctor," Jerry Cromwell, a health economist at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina who led one study, said in a statement.