Friday Funny: The New Nurse Practitioner
Above is a PERFECT example of the new NPs coming out. This was found and shared on the internet. Her career as an RN lasted less than a year. Now it is on to NP school. That school is not mentioned above was found to be this:
Online. Six days of in-person sessions. But they have the brain of a doctor and the heart of a nurse. These are the people the AANP screams are equal to physicians.
Have you or your family member seen by a physician when sick. You have been warned.
New N.P. ? Once they get slammed with their first malpractice suit where there is no M.D. to take the heat for them. This diddlechit will go away if they know what’s good for them. Kurt
She’ll do great with the 50%+ of primary-care patients who have imaginary or self-limited or lifestyle-related illnesses. Where are all the malpractice suits that should have begun by now??
I encountered a PA this week who had no idea how to do an exam for neck pain. I didn’t have any neuro issues but she’d never have known if I did. Heaven help us
It seems like the picture of her on her first day of work looks like Heath Ledger as the Joker just before he hits the remote explosions.
Notice that 50% of the coursework is psychosocial mumbo jumbo. Politics
and lobbying get more coursework than pathophysiology.
You don’t even need the one year of nursing work, many are going straight to NP school online.
The clinical portions are often observation only at about the level of participation of a first-year medical student. They find an orthopedic surgeon who signs off on their card.
There is no criteria for intelligence, aptitude or knowledge. Having known three people who did this degree in the last few years the understanding of lung cancer is writing a report from Wikipedia. About the level of high school. There is no understanding of the pathophysiology whatsoever.
We recently had an NP that did not even know how to read an EKG. Something that you don’t even need an NP school for. Nor did she understand any disease processes.
Originally, 30 years ago the NP programs were highly selective. Not as many women went into medical school and this was an alternative pathway for those who were exceptionally bright and hardworking. They usually had 3 years of ICU experience which back in those days meant calculating drips and regulating drugs and only the best and brightest could do that. The programs were highly selective and required 2 years or more of in person classes and clinical at the University. After completion they were supposed to only do well baby checks for pediatricians or see healthy people for the family practice doctors.
That’s why half their coursework now is political. They have lobbied that they should have independent practice and that they can claim they are specialists despite no residency training.
The nursing profession is in favor of this. They get to supervise this with no supervision by physicians at State board levels whatsoever. They like this because it creates a massive nursing shortage driving up wages. I would estimate over 50% of the nursing grads are now going into NP programs. It’s estimated the number of NPs will have gone from 100,000 to over 1 million in 10 years
Despite the claims that they would take care of shortages in rural areas I would state there’s more nurse practitioners injecting Botox than practicing solo in rural areas. It’s all a money grab. Nor are they cost effective since the payments are too high for their level of training and private equity has seized on this. Unfortunately what will happen is a drag to bring physicians reimbursement down.
The only thing that might save us is that artificial intelligence will actually take care of the patient and the nurse practitioner will just be the human body who signs off.