Unprofessional, inaccurate article

Specialties NP

Published

I just saw this article today (it was from April) by Dr. Keith Ablow on a Fox News website. Others may have already seen it. It was so completely offensive, that I am at a loss for words. My question is what can we do as NPs to respond to this type of blatantly incorrect professional bashing? I feel like we need to not take this lying down. On the other hand, who has the time to respond to every arrogant, turf-protecting, inflammatory article we see? It is ridiculously inaccurate, unprofessional and offensive.

http://health.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/15/nurses-masquerading-as-doctors/

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It is ridiculously inaccurate, unprofessional and offensive.

What else would you expect from Faux News??? Consider the source, take a deep breath, and move on.

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Specializes in LDRP.

People like him will never be swayed from their opinions.

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Specializes in Emergency Department, House Supervisor.

Wow, I read it and was non-plussed. Of course, that's what he intended. If he only knew just how hard it is to get into NURSING school. He often mixes nurses with mid-levels as far as scope of practice. Also, there is a lot of new EVIDENCE that much of what is taught in medical school is irrelevant to their eventual practice and that much much more time needs to be spent on learning psycho social skills. He is behind the times.

SyckRN

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

The man is an *** and has been all along. His entire goal in life was to be a celebrity doctor. His TV show flopped. His guest gigs are fading out, so I guess he's decided to write provocative **** to up his media proflile --- and with 381 comments on his blog, I guess it worked. His dumb article kind of makes his comments about nurses not having the"raw intellect" of doctors a lesson in irony.

The last I saw him on television he was saying that Farrah Fawcett filming her experience with anal cancer to decrease the stigma and raise awareness was a self-indulgent publicity seeking spectacle. I guess he ought to know!

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Specializes in ER; CCT.

Opinions are like lower gastrointestinal anatomical units--everyone has one, just like Dr. Kieth Asblow.

As far as what we can do is quite simple. Affirm to your patients every day that you are first and foremost a nurse and a member of the nursing profession. Reject the notion imposed on you by organized medicine and those NP's socialized under this former paradigm that you are a member of the medical profession, which has many of these lower GI units spewing rhetoric and NP hatred, particularly on this board. Reject derogatory titles in your practice such as midlevel care provider and physician extender which does nothing to explicate who we are as nurses and does much to tie us to the medical profession as well as marginalizes nurse practitioners as medical technicians.

Nurses, particulary at the advanced practice level, must first and foremost establish that we are in our own profession of nursing, and not owned, controlled and directed by the medical profession. Until there is a consensus, we as NP's will always be viewed by consumers and the medical profession as nothing more than medical technicians relegated to only perform those functions that organized medicine permits us to do. Until that time, heavy emphasis and weight will be given to these freaks as they are viewed as being in charge of the nursing profession.

Remember, nurses are always rated as the most trusted profession in the US for a reason.

Tammy

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

I think he is more than a little threatened by the nursing profession and wants to make sure we inferior beings know our proper place. This article was so ridiculous and poorly researched that I had to laugh. What I found more disturbing were the many people who agreed with him via comments, including other health professionals. However, my boss feels I do a fine job, my colleagues respect me, and most importantly, my patients feel they get excellent care. That's what's really important.

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If you diagnose and treat patients, you are practicing medicine.

This is an old article and he is way off base!

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Specializes in PICU.

At first I was offended but then realized that this tool is a psychiatrist!!!! Who is he to talk? When was the last time he did a physical assessment on a patient and provided a medical diagnosis? You can tell he was angry when he wrote it and obviously didn't care about offending anyone. So he is obviously speaking on something he doesn't even have experience in. I was more offended about the comments and had to stop reading them. I especially like the PA that was agreeing and saying "Yeah, if you (nurses) want to be a Dr. go to medical school." um, you aren't a Dr either superstar.

This will always be a constant argument. They don't know what it is like to be a nurse and we don't know what it is to be a MD. We do two different jobs. And we are supposed to do these jobs in conjunction to benefit the patient. So we are going to go in circles for the rest of existence.

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Specializes in LTC.

sounds like this psychiatrist needs a psych consult. i'm 100% serious.

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If you diagnose and treat patients, you are practicing medicine.

This is an old article and he is way off base!

If you are practicing medicine....shouldn't you be regulated by the board of medicine?

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Complete and total ignorance

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