Once again, an article about retail health appears on the WSJ Health Blog site and the discussion ends up being about NPs versus MDs . Under that thread, a whole firestorm is set off when someone by the alias of "real doctor" claims that patients have returned to his office following visits to the retail clinics because they "were not treated appropriately." I certainly felt the need to respond to this arrogant attack on NPs and did so as "Real Nurse Practitioner." So what follows is the typical rhetoric from purported physicians and includes: if you want to be a doctor go to medical school, being a doctor means that you have to spend 11 to 15 years of post graduate training after high school, wearing a stethoscope and a white coat doesn't make you a doctor and the list goes on. NPs don't become NPs to "play" doctor. This is a profession that was borne from a need of primary care and pediatrician shortages in under-served areas. In 1...
This is my blog that will highlight current issues, trends and policies affecting Nurse Practitioners and the health care system today.