Nurse Practitioner Says "I'm No Physician Extender!"

 This is who I think of when I hear the term "extends".

I was over at Kim's place at Emergiblog and she has a great post about Physician extenders. I, of course, put my two cents in on the subject.

It still amazes me just how little people understand about how we take care of patients. The term Physician Extender gives people the impression that I am hanging onto my collaborating MD's elbow waiting for him to approve my every decision regarding my patients. Most of the time, he has no input at all. If I need some advice, I will ask him to review a chart or come into a patient's room with me and we discuss the case like two intelligent individuals. In fact, he sometimes (imagine that!) even comes to find me for advice as well.

I don't understand why doctors and nurse practitioners and physician's assistants can't all just work toward the same goals for patients. Yes, I know that there is an educational difference. Yes, I know that I didn't attend medical school for as long as you did. Yes, I know that some of the old schools docs still think that I am pretending to be a doctor and that if I wanted to treat patients in the same capacity that I should go to school to "be a real doctor".

Enough already! Get over the fact that we are already doing pretty much the same care with the same quality outcomes. No, I don't want the same money for the job. I don't have the exact same education, so I don't deserve the exact same pay. Oh my gosh! Did I just say that?

All I want is to be recognized as the primary medical care provider that I am. I am a great listener and I am continually learning and adapting to my surroundings in the field. I love my job and would like to be allowed to practice to the maximum capacity of my abilities for one ultimate goal...


Great patient care. 'Nuff said.

NHSC Conference In Washington, D.C on Aug 5-7th

I will be attending the National Health Service Corp conference in Washington, D.C. during the first week in August. Why will I being doing this? I applied for a student loan payback program in which the government pays back my student loans in return for my service in a rural area. I signed a two year contract and in return got $50,000 paid immediately off my loans. Pretty sweet deal if I say so myself! There are still funds available for nurses and nurse practitioners, doctors, dentists, mental health professionals and the such so go on over to this site and check it out.

My husband will be coming along to keep me company after the conference and we intend on visiting some of the sites while we are there.
Anyone who blogs happen to be going? Let me know and we will do some networking.

Change of Shift Is Five Years Old and Going Strong!

I am honored to be included in the 5th anniversary of the Change of Shift. It's a wonderful compilation of nursing stories submitted each edition and will take you into the lives of those who are saving yours every day. Cheers to Kim and hope that she has many more great years to come.

Nurse Practitioners As Primary Care Providers

I am a primary care provider. I am the one patients come to see when they or their families are sick. I treat acute and chronic illnesses and provide counseling in mental health. I should be the one listed on my patients medicine bottles, not my collaborating MD. The quote below is my response to "The Nurse Practitioner Will See You Now" by Susan Yox Editorial Director, Medscape Nurses.

"I have worked in a rural health community for the last two and half years in Family practice as a nurse practitioner. For the first year, I was the only medical provider in the branch and it grew by leaps and bounds. I had telephone contact with my collaborating MD and he would come to the office if I needed to have him cosign a chart. One of the M.D.s in the company started working with me one day a week in order to facilitate the controlled substance needs. It was almost a year before we could find a full time D.O. to come work in the rural setting. It was difficult to recruit even though we are not far from one of the biggest medical schools in Florida (University of Florida). The only reason I needed a medical physician was the shear volume of patient numbers as the practice grew, not because I needed someone to "supervise" me as a medical provider. We have a great working relationship and we collaborate with each other. That's the way it's supposed to work. I really get tired of the turf wars that are happening on the state legislative level. I think that most doctors and NPs/PAs work well together through close contact and mutual respect. Our company employs physicians, NPs and PAs to care for our local communities and we do an awesome job, in my opinion, without the bickering between the disciplines. I wish more physician students would come to the office to see how it's done out here so that they would feel more comfortable with the "other medical providers". As more and more new MDs/DOs realize what quality care we provide, the current American Medical Association's attitudes against nurse practitioners providing primary medical care will diminish as they get older and are replaced by the younger doctors. We must remain active in our contacts with the next set of congressmen and senators that are going to be elected and find out early what their opinions are before they are jaded against us. I have already spoken with two runners in my area and plan to make a trip to Tallahassee to speak with a few in person with data in hand to show that we are competent and that patients trust us to take care of them and their families."