The Fight Against NPs and PAs Is Real
Finally, there is pushback to the encroachment of LELTs (Lesser Educated, Lesser Trained). This blog has been fighting them for 20 years. Seriously. Since then the NPs have only made their education and training WORSE! All the while they are getting bogus doctorates so they can call themselves doctors. Now PAs are getting doctorates too. They say it is just to compete for jobs with the NPs. Bullsh%t. It is because they are now pushing for independence so they can also call themselves and confuse patients.
Remember it all started with NPs wanting collaboration. The same with PAs.
Now they want to compete and they are devaluing the education and training of medical school are residencies. And all the medical organizations are doing nothing or little to fight back.
Thank goodness there is some doctors who are fighting back. We are with you 100%.
Check this out – Unfortunately not an April Fools joke:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/948723?src=WNL_trdalrt_210407_MSCPEDIT&uac=1349SX&impID=3294832&faf=1
Wisconsin Hospital Replaces All Anesthesiologists With CRNAs
I will say before I retired, I worked with a female NP in the collaborating days for over 20 years. She was older than me and retired first. Worked well. She handled routine stuff and I got the harder issues to deal with. When she’d approach me with, “I got this case.” I knew it would be an oh sh!t moment and I would have to think. (It always turned out o.k. as we could usually brainstorm together a remedy.)
Also in a geriatric practice a lot of the older women (and not so much older) liked the option of having a woman do their paps for them. That was fine by me as if I wanted to spend my time doing “that” I would have gone “into” groinocology. Gave me more time to ruminate over difficult medical problems and dealing with the non-compliant. You know, the obese diabetes who find it hard to change their sh!tty dietary habits.
I think this independent practice thing with NP’s and PA’s will die an eventual death after they get slapped with the inevitable malpractice cases. That will happen at higher frequency than with M.D.’s and will effectively kill the independent model. Unfortunately, some patients are going to be harmed.
Incidentally, the N.P. thing was thrust upon our group practice (many years ago) because if we employed “physician extenders”, we’d get better reimbursement from the powers that be. It was an option to the docs though we were told a certain percentage of us would have to use them. The younger docs (of which I was a part of at that time) took on the task and some of our compatriots refused them.
The collaboration model worked well at “that time” with us and that’s my point. In fact Debbie, my assigned N.P. brought to my attention that she read of the rumblings of her association was looking into independent practice and thought it was just plain stupid. Mind you, this was many, many years ago before the current bru, ha, ha.
Bottom line is those crazies will get their “just due” once the malpractice attorneys get their hooks into them. Mark my words, that will kill that model of independent practice sure as shoot’in. Unfortunately, there is going to be (great) harm to patients in allowing it to occur.
I remember a PA approached a surgeon after he (the PA) removed a nevus off of a patients neck. Turned out to be a melanoma and asked the surgeon “How much more tissue should he (the PA) remove! Surgeons eyes bugged out (that’s what the surgeon told me as he recounted the story) and stepped in to handle the case from there on out!! Ignorance is bliss that is going to kill people.
The world is a ripe orchard for those with no conscience. Solzhenitsyn said that a madman only kills a few; those with an ideology can consume millions. It was not Stalin who extinguished the millions, but the thousands who took him for their voice of conscience.
So what if a PA calls themselves a doctor? They are simply counterfeiting what millions want. The rot lies deeper, and will emerge very soon. Our society has nec fasc and ignores it.
Thank you.
This is what I have said to my PA cohorts for 40 plus years.
Degree creep for RNs and PAs. Told them if they wanted to be called Doctor to go to MED school.
I am told I am a dinosaur. New PAs with no prior clinical experience need 3 to 5 years of Supervised training.
New PAs that were RNs ,Lab techs Paramedics ,combat medics with several years experiennce only 2 years..
Utilization of PA s and NPs should be by Physicians who know how to supervise/educate. Sorely lacking and scant interest. Some physicians resent a PA or NP. When the PA was originally meant to augment the Physician handlng only routine cases ,follow ups,hospital rounds ALL under a physicians supervision..
Business of Medicine ,power politics all stepped in to change that.EVERYTHING IS A BUSINESS MODEL..
No altruism, or patient care, protection is pertinent to the business model other than to minimize risk to the Business..Since RNs who told you physicians what they were doing,TAKING OVER, they have become NPs, hospital admin, and are moving to take over. Business is helping and as an Employee you are just a pawn to the corporation , Doctors.. Welcome to the nasty world. You all helped create it. How are you gonna fix it?
I am A PA-C. I want it fixed. I love what I do as a PA. In patient encounters for 44 years I have introduced myself as Jesse the PA. Not the physician and explained the difference. Every time
Good luck and lots of Hard work ahead..Also Physicians do not walk on water or sit at the Right hand of GOD. Clean your own fields and get the Bad Docs out..
Jesse Belville,PA-C
Remember it’s all about money. If they were paid at 50% of the physician rate there would not be a push.
Nurse anesthetists making the same as anesthesiologist and more than 75% of physicians despite nursing school and just 3 years of lesser advanced training.
The average surgeon has over 40000 hours of post high school education and study( more than the career of many workers) vs under 12000 for a NP or PA. Not to mention, with every nurse under 30 becoming a NP online, many of diminished intellectual understanding.