Insults to the midlevel professions

[emtneel]

Have you encounter insulting remarks or situations to being a midlevel, ie demeaning?

How did you handle it?

Just curious.

I did find this ad on craigslist which included the following:

Summary:

The role of the EP (electrophysiology) Nurse Practitioner is to perform all nursing duties in the respective clinic and promote a good health care environment for patients through the use of good communication skills and established nursing practices.

Functional Roles: Performs other nursing and clerical duties as needed.

Responsibilities:

Accompanies patients to exam room and prepares patients for exam by physician

Gathers patient information, obtains history, vital signs, review medication regimen.

Assists physician when examining the patient.

Performs venipuncture for laboratory testing and prepares samples and requisitions for the contracting lab.

Performs "housekeeping" duties within the office as assigned.

It seems like this person wants the NP to be the nurse, the MA, the phlebotomist, the housekeeper, and the clerk..

Good luck to them finding somebody...

Seriously a lot of jobs out there, no wonder they cannot get or keep midlevels.

I know a lot of midlevels are highly respected it just seems we have to earn it a lot more than an MD. No patient ever really says, "Oh your just the intern or resident" If you are a Doctor, you are a Doctor.

Its not just about educating patients on what a NP or PA is, but also MD's as well, HR, CEO and upper levels...Because a lot of times they just aren't getting it.

Sorry if this is a repeat post.

Neelia

[dhigbee]

He could just get a student if that's all he wants? What's his point?

Dunno. I guess he feels that's all a mid-level is good for. He certainly doesn't want them practicing independently. He's had this NP student for a few months, and she's the one he's planning on hiring to do his scut work, as long as he can "train her" to not believe she can think for herself. :angryfire

[yellow finch, BSN, RN]

I have found that a lot of these job listings for "nurse practitioners" are really job listings for nurses (I didn't see anything in that ad, other than the title, that would lead me to think that what they were looking for was actually an NP). It would seem many recruiters do not know the difference. Heck, most of the general public does not know the difference. I was asked by one patient "nurse practitioner, does that mean you're practicing to be a nurse?" Oh, good grief...:uhoh3::uhoh3:

Yes, dear, it does. And the general practitioner (MD) in the next room is practicing to be a general.

OMG. That made me lol.

My neighbor (who's a bit of a dimwit, overall) asked me the other day, "So, are you a practical nurse now?" My reply was, "No, I'm a registered nurse and am about to finish up a graduate program. I'm studying to become a Nurse Practitioner." He just looked at me with a blank stare for a minute. Then he proceeded to tell me about a cousin of his who's an LPN and works for an Orthopaedist. I suppose he thinks that's what I'm working towards?

P.S. I hope you don't mind, I bolded your comments b/c they were soooooo funny.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

I would definitely shy away from any NP position with a physician who doesn't quite seem to know what to do with one.

The last time I encountered that, it was with an ENT; I was the patient. The NP did my pre-op visit, but I could tell from the visit and our conversation that she was way under-utilized. She wasn't there at my post-op visit; he'd let her go. He had decided that she wasn't bringing in enough $$ to the practice to justify her salary (I have no idea what he was paying).

I'm not sure if he just didn't quite know how to work things out so that she added value to his practice, because she surely could have, or if he just could not "let go" of his patients (some docs can be very possessive).

He's a very good physician, just a poor collaborator.

Any physician who has never worked with a PA or NP before and can't really articulate what his or her goals and expectations are, is probably not quite ready to make that move. Any physician whose very first concern is how much revenue the PA or NP can bring in is also probably not one you want to work with, either.

[ERNP]

dunno. i guess he feels that's all a mid-level is good for. he certainly doesn't want them practicing independently. he's had this np student for a few months, and she's the one he's planning on hiring to do his scut work, as long as he can "train her" to not believe she can think for herself. :angryfire

i implore you to warn any potential candidate of this idiots intentions. then buy him a monkey to train.

[ERNP]

While we are at it.... let's just allow this supervisory role for a couple of years out of school... then let's cut the poor doctors loose and show 'em what we got.

[scribblerpnp]

Reading about these other horrendous doctors makes me realize even more how lucky I am. My collaborationg doc is great! Leaves me alone and lets me do my job, but is there when I need the help. We actually *GASP* collaborate and work together to figure out strange/difficult cases!?!?!

The best story I have is the parent of a patient I had cared for for over three years said to me one day, "Isn't it about time you graduated from medical school?" Our office is small and it says in multiple places: Xxxxxx Xxxxx, MSN, RN, CPNP, and I and the staff continually state my title such as, "Hello, I am Xxxx Xxxx, the nurse practitioner," or "Xxxx Xxxx, the nurse practitioner will be in to see you shortly," and "No, the doctor has no openings, but Xxxx Xxxx the nurse practitioner can see you at 3pm."

Was very strange. This was a family I felt pretty close to and saw on multiple occassions!

[edogs334]

"When will you go back to school and become a real doctor?"

Kinda reminds me of my tech days. When patients asked if I was "goin' to school for somethin," I told them I was in the process of applying to nursing schools. Some of them asked "well, why don't you just go to medical school?"