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And have you noticed how many Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners there are who are stepping in to treat you??? I see this at Mayo even though I have always had the doctor come in afterward.
PAs and NPs have no where the amount of training of a medical doctor. Nor can they do specializations like doctors but only get experience by working in a certain department. Yet they are being used more and more in medical practices and I have seen them assume responsibilities where they definitely should not because they totally lack the depth of knowledge. They are paid less than a doctor, but the institution can charge insurance the same amount (code the same) if they are "supervised" by a MD. My friend's daughter is a doctor and was very unhappy when they hired some PAs and said it was not realistic to expect she had the time to supervise them but was expected to sign off on what they did. The clinic finally decided to code visits at a lower amount and not require MDs to sign off on what the visit.
SO... PAs and NPs want more responsibility...so why not encourage them to complete MD training???? Why "dumb down" our medical system???? Time to give scholarships for medical training! They give tax breaks to companies to increase development in certain areas, and the shareholders end up very rich. How about making medical education very affordable and available to help everybody!
Replies to "And have you noticed how many Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners there are who are stepping..."
Well said! Have had personal experience with the results of wrong decisions made by a PA. Also a neighbor who nearly died as a result of being over prescribed oxycodone by NP. Isn't this medical malpractice!?
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I can tell you that my former primary care practitioner was a DNP - a doctor of nursing practice, with 2 subspecialties - pain management and geriatrics - and was equal or superior to every family practice doc I saw during the 20+ years I saw her.
When she became an NP, she had her Master's Degree in Nursing Practice, 8000 hours of medical nursing experience, and 2000 hours shadowing physicians in the clinic that hired her.
Why didn't she go to medical school? Because by the time she was "ready" she had a family, including a in a specialty residency husband, and could not manage the hours required for residency.
Until we figure out a way to train doctors humanely, and not use them as slave labor in our hospitals and Emergency Rooms, we will see declining enrollment. And until we compensate family practitioners equally to other specialties, we will see fewer docs. The year I retired as a technical project manager from the Feds, my NP and my husband's family practice doc both earned less that I did. I did not have anywhere near the education of either of them, and did not hold people's lives in my hands!