Parents wanting MD

[pedspnp]

Parents brought their children in today for a school physical and after the exam was completed and I had referred one for a hydrocele and estropia, expressed their displeasure at not seeing a MD INSTEAD of a glorified nurse. The mom began to rant why the "f" are we seeing you instead of the MD ( who is on vacation) . She questioned my qualifications , I explained to her what my qualifications were and that if there were any questions as to the diagnosis that I would consult . When she made the appointment she was made aware that she was seeing a NP . The mom continued to rant at that point I stated , " if you don't feel I'm qualified to examine and refer your child to a specialist , then obviously I'm not qualified too sign off on his school form, would you like to reschedule the appointment for when the pediatrician is available in three weeks . ( the child was already getting to be refused back in school with out a physical ). Rant over

[Jules A, MSN]

I'm sorry this happened and would guess much of it was Mom's concern and displaced frustration over the possibility of her baby having a serious health condition.

[pedspnp]

When I mentioned both of these conditions the mom stated " I was told by a er doc a while back to have it ( the hydrocele ) looked at . The child is 3 and hasn't been seen since he was 9 months old. I think there's more here than the mom being angry about me being a NP. The whole thing is strange.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

There will always be people like this, though it seems to happen to me less and less often lately.

It's not worth fighting with them. I am always happy to reschedule them with one of our physicians, they schedule about 4 months out, so the patient has to wait to be seen and I don't have to deal with them. Truth be told most change their tune because they don't want to wait and once they go through the visit they have lost their reservation.

If child hasn't been seen since 9mo and is now 3yrs, that is pretty telling how concerned they are about the child's health.

Sent from my iPhone.

[SydneyJo1]

I've only had one person say something like this to me, thankfully. She asked why she was seeing me rather than a psychiatrist, and I said "I guess you got lucky today." I was joking, obviously, but it did defuse the situation at the time and she actually laughed.

People are strange. :)

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I think some of it is people see 'nurse' in the title and not 'doctor' and think that for whatever reason you aren't as smart or didn't make it through med school or whatever people's tiny little brains want to cook up. (Note: I'm not saying I think this. I see an NP, both my kids see a PNP, and I'm in FNP school right now. Obviously I feel v. positively toward NPs. :) ) Some people don't get that a NP has been through much additional training for qualification to handle medical needs. I have family who have NO CLUE what a NP does.

That said, it definitely sounds like there is more to the story that Mom isn't saying.

[synaptic]

I just wouldn't sign the paper and tell them to follow up with the MD.

[phillycpnp-pc, MSN, RN, NP]

This occasionally happens to me. I'm often the only one in the office and sometimes I work with one of the MDs. One day I was working with a doc and he was running behind and the MA asked several parents if they wanted to see me so they wouldn't wait as long. They refused and said they didn't want to see a NP. I was done early and decided to leave. On my way out, I saw the waiting room was full of all patients that didn't want to see a NP. A couple of them I had seen before. And they came up to me and said oooh I didn't know you were a NP... We would of saw you. So unfortunately they had to wait.

I find that many patients still do not know what an NP does. I introduce myself as the NP and they still call me dr, and assume I'm the dr because I'm seeing and treating them.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

Someone curses at me, at that point their appointment is over. Not discussing it, not defending myself. Goodbye!

[CocoaLoverFNP]

I think some of it is people see 'nurse' in the title and not 'doctor' and think that for whatever reason you aren't as smart or didn't make it through med school or whatever people's tiny little brains want to cook up. (Note: I'm not saying I think this. I see an NP, both my kids see a PNP, and I'm in FNP school right now. Obviously I feel v. positively toward NPs. :) ) Some people don't get that a NP has been through much additional training for qualification to handle medical needs. I have family who have NO CLUE what a NP does.

That said, it definitely sounds like there is more to the story that Mom isn't saying.

I had one preceptor before that introduces herself as the "healthcare provider" instead of the "nurse practitioner" because of this same reason. It would be proper to educate the patient about what NPs do but I could also understand that there are days that you just won't have any time to explain.

[bethymaester]

That's why we all need DNPs so we can say, "Hi, I'm DOCTOR Smith the (nurse) practitioner caring for you today" . . . all the "special" patients will hear is "doctor" just like they only hear "nurse" Mostly kidding of course, but I hate it when patients do that and I think you handled it well!

[BeachFNP]

I get this occasionally. Mostly it's a sideways glance and a "is the doctor coming in?" If it's his day here I just hand them over to him and he is totally fine with it. Most of the time they turn out to be VERY self absorbed anyway so I'm glad to be rid of them.

Occasionally it's a day that he is not here and I have to explain to them that he can't be in all 3 offices everyday. They usually let it drop at that point and by the end of the appt they ONLY want to see me in the future. Occasionally someone will get all indignant and reschedule with him. Fine by me. I've got enough to do than deal with your annoying ass.