Don't we have that already?

Doctor / Physician

Physician Assistant

Nurse Practitioner

Registered Nurse

Nursing Aid / Nurse Assistant

You can with many nurse practitioners (and maybe physician assistants, but I've had no experience with them) at places like minute clinic (http://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/).

I've gone to a similar place that's in my office for some minor routine things, and it's been cheaper and easier to schedule than a proper doctor visit.

They certainly do have an important role to play, but we need a lower level medical professional that can accept appointments and perhaps write a limited set of prescriptions and handle treatment of basic ailments.

One shouldn't need a masters for the 'oil change' of medicine, just as one needn't be a registered engineer to change an air filter.

The last time I needed a basic physical, I saw the PA. She ordered blood-work and reviewed the results with me. I'm sure one of the physicians signed off on everything, but as far as I know, she did the work.

Likewise, the last time I had the flu, I made an appointment with one of the PAs. She did everything, with the physician just signing off on the prescription at the end.

Post-surgery, my follow-ups were with PAs or NPs, not the physician. He did drop in to say "Hi." but that was about it.

So I think that varies from state to state.

[Anecdote warning] When I was in grad school, at least, I was able to directly book appointments at the student health center with PAs, MDs and DOs (perhaps a university-run health center is different, somehow?). I also don't recall ever facing difficulty having a prescription written.

My understanding is that a PAs can't open their own practice, but that several PAs can function more or less independently under the supervision of one MD/DO principal.

All of the levels mentioned here have their places, but calling any of them "doctors" who don't have an MBBS, MD, DO, or equivalent physician-level degree is inappropriate.

I don't have a simple answer, but I would like to see more government built medical schools; increasing the supply.

I would further like to see most drugs available over the counter, with the exception of antibiotics, and very strong pain killers.

I would like to see a society, where a patient who is on a long term medication, only has to see a doctor once a year, or if the patient needs a higher dose. (Right now most patients only need to see a doctor once a year, in order to get refills, but very few doctors are willing to authorize a year's worth of refills. They want to bill for those office visits. I understand it in some situations. In other situations, I don't understand dragging in patients, especially those patients with lousy insurance, or no insurance.)

I don't have a simple answer. I'm on medications--I can't just stop. I've felt hostage to the system for too many years.

I am greatful to the Health Care Act though. I know, you guys all hate it. Yes, it has faults, the Insurance/Pharmaceutical companies took advantage of, but let's see what the system looks like when the next Republician president vetoes it?

   I'm guessing that a similar situation exists with
   doctors; physicals, vaccines, and a handful of common
   diseases (like colds) probably make up a sizable
   percentage of visits. There's a market for someone who
   can just handle these cases and pass them off to the
   higher grade doctor when the need arises.

What I'm proposing is an intermediate step between doctors and nurses (or perhaps buffing up the powers of higher level nurses so they could operate standalone) so that one doesn't always need to make an appointment with someone with 8 years of specialized training to be stuck with a tetanus booster shot.

We have categories matching that description in the US now, most notably Physician Assistants [0] and Nurse Practitioners [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_assistant

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_practitioner

As a patient I don't want this to happen. I'm ok with nurses administering the shot, but by having an MD giving his approval first (or a "Super nurse"). At what point do you draw the line and say "this is enough knowledge, get to work"? What happens when things go wrong? How do you make sure things won't go wrong? It's not like in a lot of technological settings where if the system doesn't boot you can just buy a new one (caricature). You're dealing with the life and quality of life of a human being. Stakes are different.

Isn't that where nurses come in?