One of the five things Dominic Carone can’t stand about going to the doctor’s office:
With that said, the first thing I cannot stand when I go to the doctor is when they try to do a bait and switch and have me seen by a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner instead of the doctor. Now, I don’t have anything against anyone in these fine professions, but when I make an appointment to see the doctor, I expect to see the doctor.
Related posts:
- Are mid-levels being misused?
- Medical records and accuracy
- How are residents supposed to learn?
- When you switch to Medicare
- Physicians as healthcare providers
- Waiting for the doctor
- The Medicare cuts are coming
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I just had this happen to me.
I was gowned and on the table waiting for my doctor, when a NP walks in instead, and just tells me she is going to be doing the exam. Not asks me, tells me.
I asked if this was something new in the office? She became defensive and told me she did just what a doctor does and is the “same thing”.
My mouth dropped, yet I was so shocked by the bait and switch that I didn’t speak up. I just wondered what would the doctor think if he heard that? The same?
the problem with mid-levels is that the training is so vastly different & years shorter than that of a physician, that they simply DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW, which often ultimately proves dangerous.
I don’t quite understand the leap from giving out meds & measuring I/O’s to actually PRESCRIBING meds (even narcotics).
If they can do that, what’s with all the years of biochem, organic chem, pharmacology, physiology, residency, etc.?
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