I feel I have to just pass comment here. I'm a paeds nurse, working in a paeds a&e, while I love reading Dr Crippin, I do worry he doesn't appreciate that with experience comes knowledge for nurses as well as for dr's. In our dept medically we are staffed on rota by the sho's doing their 6 mth (soon to be reduced to 4 mths) A&E - normally on their way to a career in surgery or medicine (v v rarely paediatrics) who often haven't even touched a child with a barge pole since they did about 2 mths of paediatrics during their medical training. So myself and my colleagues are often ASKED for advice, support and practically a diagnosis by the dr's before they see the patient. I've now been there for over 4 yrs and know the dr's we work with often rely on our support and guidance. I would love to train as a paed ENP to see minor inj & illness, far from thinking its something I could do tomorrow, I'd see it more as building upon the foundations I already have from experience and practice. This wouldn't be a quick 3 day course, it would involve doing 2 pt/time courses (at uni at degree level) - while still working f/time obv, followed by at least 6 mths consolidation - being mentored by senior ENP's and Dr's in the dept and after that would always know that there were senior ENP's/Dr's to discuss anything I was concerned or felt out of depth with. Due to funding shortages, this isn't currently available to me. It does infuriate me though that you're always so down on nurse practioners - my experience of the ENP's I work with is that their often more cautious than our medical colleagues - I see far more reattenders who've seen our dr's than ENP's.