[alphager]

In Germany, the "nurse" (it's a separate profession from nursing) performs a variety of medical tasks (like vaccinations, blood tests, allergy tests) and does prioritization of incoming patients based on initial assessments. I've also had the "nurse" complete initial medical history with me.

This model is strongly influenced by the size of the clinic: we usually have small clinics owned and run by the only doctor in the clinic (though they sometimes team up). As the amount of patients per day is hard-limited by the doctors time, such small clinics have no need for a full-time receptionists.