The line between doctors and nurses is about to get blurrier, The Wall Street Journal reports today.

As the nation struggles with a looming shortage of primary-care physicians, advanced-practice nursing has been gaining in popularity. Now a new “hybrid practitioner” model that would equip nurses with additional skills is being developed at about 200 nursing schools. Graduates would receive doctorates of nursing practice and would be trained to coordinate care in a variety of settings and using a variety of health-care workers.

Today the nonprofit Council for the Advancement of Comprehensive Care is expected to announce that the National Board of Medical Examiners will develop a certification exam for these nurses. The exam is to be based on the test that medical-school graduates must pass to get their licenses.

Some doctors, though, worry that the change could confuse patients and compromise care. The new breed of nurses would use “DrNP” after their name, and could also use the title “Doctor.”

“Nurses with an advanced degree are not the same as doctors who have been to medical school,” says Roger Moore, incoming president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

But nursing advocates say they’re not trying to take over doctors’ roles; they just want to ensure that when aging baby boomers and others need care, there will be enough people trained in primary care to meet their needs. —Katherine Mangan