Nurse practitioners are special in that they can do roughly 80-90% of what doctors can do, including writing prescriptions. In some cases they can act as specialists, such as handling mental health needs that your standard GP wouldn&#x27;t handle.<p>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.<p>One shouldn&#x27;t need a masters for the &#x27;oil change&#x27; of medicine, just as one needn&#x27;t be a registered engineer to change an air filter.