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I think i have pneumonia but im not too sure!
Lung Health | Last Active: Dec 7 11:31am | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
I don't think this is to denigrate NP and PAs. This is to acknowledge that institutions are using NPs and PAs because there is a shortage of MDs and/or NPs and PAs cost less than an MD.
The fact remains that NPs an PAs have less training and much less clinical requirements. They can make the doctor more efficient, but they should not be making a diagnosis. Where was the triage in this case?
I remember going to Urgent Care in Florida on a Sunday for extreme diarrehia and weakness. I had had a flu shot that week. The PA sent me home saying the cause was my flu shot even though I told him I had been on antibiotics for 10 days and asked him if that could be the cause. (I had read the enclosure to antibiotics!) . No blood work, no stool test. The next day I called my doctor and over the phone she sent me to the Emergency room, and I was in the hospital for a week with C-diff. My potassium was so low I could have been in real difficulty! And I have been given incorrect information from NPs on more than one occassion. I have friends who say the same.
We want our medical personnel trained to the maximum and we should make going to school very cheap for specializations that we need very much and all benefit from.
Replies to "I don't think this is to denigrate NP and PAs. This is to acknowledge that institutions..."
My point exactly! In fact an astute, experienced nurse, if reviewing your symptoms, history etc. could have very well been able to identify signs/symptoms of C-Diff! Many of the NP's graduate from a BSN program and go directly into a Practitioner Program with absolutely no clinic (Hospital, Clinic, LTC) experience and are not mentored by a physician upon employment! Let me see an experienced, over 20 years, RN (or LPN in some cases) that has had direct patient care contact rather than an NP who has just graduated from NP school. To boot, the insurance companies are charged just the same as if you had seen a physician.
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While PA's have significantly less training than a doctor, Registered Nurse Practitioners have not only a Master' degree or PhD in nursing, but also 6000 hours of RN in person practice before they can be a RNP, taking significant course work & a registry exam.
In fact, our health clinic Urgent Care is staffed with RNPs, not PA's for just this reason. And the South Texas "stand-alone" ERs, their equivalent of Urgent Care, are staffed with both, with a connection to a triage doc as needed.
PS My daughter, an ER nurse for years, would have sent you directly to the ER - her rule of thumb -"If you might need an IV, go to the ER"