First let me touch on the stupid part: until I started lurking on this forum I didn't know the meaning of professional autonomy. And I feel embarassed to say that as a member of the healthcare community, I didn't know the full scope of practice of NPs. Even though I know the obgyn lady at the clinic is one. I knew she wasn't a MD, but was to scared too ask for details. Me & my friends just refer to her as the "Ob-Gyn Lady". Anyway, I was on a forum for med techs and they mentioned that some MDs take issue with NPs having full autonomy. This topic came about when we were talking about MLTs (2yr degree) being allowed to perform the same functions as MTs (4yr degree, + more sometimes). They mentioned that family practice NPs only spend 7 years in school vs. family practice MDs who spend 12 years in school....and how this is not fair.