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Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:35 pm

With the increased need for healthcare providers (baby boomers are now needing more health care intervention). Nurse practitioners are now becoming more prominent especially in bigger cities. I was wondering if any of the samba members see a nurse practitioner for their check ups or in your local emergency rooms.

I am almost finished with my Masters and Nurse Practitioner and plan on either working with a physician or working in my ER in more of an "urgent care" setting.

Wondering if you all have had good/bad experiences or even know that this is happening.

John

Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:51 pm

is that like being a cook chef?

Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:57 pm

I've seen the nurse practitioner several times when my doctor is unavailable.

Same quality care to me. No problems.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:14 pm

DeathBus wrote: is that like being a cook chef?

I think of it as 6 years of education versus 12 to be an "MD" and you make about 75-80% of a doctors pay. You also have a much cheaper student loan in the end 8)

Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:02 pm

I see one, when my Urologist/Cancer Dr is not available, and I have an emergency.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:45 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: I see one, when my Urologist/Cancer Dr is not available, and I have an emergency.

I hope things are going well Russ,

And I am glad to see (so far) that there are no probs with seeing a "nurse" rather than a "doctor" to get medical treatment. So far in my training, there hasn't been much of an issue. But the older croud 80 and up still feel that the nurse wears a cap and takes temps only :lol:

They say that less people are enrolling in medical schools and there is going to be such a shortage that the nurse practitioner will be "filling the gap".

Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:48 pm

I saw a nurse practitioner once. She treated my muscle tension headache as a sinus infection. For some reason, it didn't work.

... but I wouldn't mind seeing a competent nurse practitioner, so long as it's not some greasy-knuckled VW hobbyist. :lol:

Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:49 pm

Is a nurse-practitioner the same as a Physician's Assistant? They had PA's when I was in the military. Personally, so long as the person is competent in treatment I don't care if the credentials are MD, PA, NP, etc.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:04 pm

When I go to my Urologist, the nurse does a lot of the prep work. And if the Dr is in surgery or on vacation, and it is an emergency, It is the nurse practitioner that takes care of things or they send me to the ER.
I do not want to get into the specific's of my medical problems in a
VW forum.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:15 pm

My wife's dealt/worked with a few in the clinical setting and I've seen both NPs and PAs, depending on the doctor/specialty. They gave adequate treatment in my experiences, but they were for "routine" medical problems. My wife got most of her follow-up care after her disc replacement surgery from two PAs and both were knowledgable, professional and she was happy with their treatment.

Interesting how the medical profession is getting more and more fragmented with job classifications I'd never heard of 10 years ago.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:40 pm

Yes it is.

How many actual small town GP's are there still around.
When I grew up the family Dr. was a little short fat guy that smoked cigars. Took dam good care of us too. Made house calls too, if needed.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:09 pm

Here they've set up NP staffed clinics to take the pressure off the emergency rooms. They work great for treating all the crud that goes around, especially the stuff that every kid in town gets. You're there for 15 minutes and you walk out with your prescription (which is all you wanted anyway).

Why do you need 12 years of med school to dispense cough syrup or give a tetanus shot?

My only problem is that you probably catch 3 other colds from the other patients while you're sitting in the waiting room.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:36 pm

coad wrote: Here they've set up NP staffed clinics to take the pressure off the emergency rooms. They work great for treating all the crud that goes around, especially the stuff that every kid in town gets. You're there for 15 minutes and you walk out with your prescription (which is all you wanted anyway).

Why do you need 12 years of med school to dispense cough syrup or give a tetanus shot?

My only problem is that you probably catch 3 other colds from the other patients while you're sitting in the waiting room.

Funny, I always thought you lived in a bubble.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:38 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: Yes it is.

How many actual small town GP's are there still around.
When I grew up the family Dr. was a little short fat guy that smoked cigars. Took dam good care of us too. Made house calls too, if needed.

Plus he/she knew what now takes multiple "specialists" to diagnose. I suspect some of it has to do with cost savings. Why pay a doc $150K/yr when you can pay a PA $100K and they do almost the same thing.

I do have to admit however, that technology and research etc have added more technicality to medicine, so I guess I can sort of understand all the specialization.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:44 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: I see one, when my Urologist/Cancer Dr is not available, and I have an emergency.
agreed. I credit my NP with making the decision that saved my life.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:45 pm

I think that the increased frequency of these "Jr. Doctors" is a really good thing for health cost containment etc, but if there is something seriously wrong with my vagina, I don't want anything but a qualified doctor sticking his arm in there.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:54 pm

:shock: Man if your vagina can fit an entire human arm, you got problems a doctor ain't gonna solve.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:29 pm

johnnyrotten wrote: With the increased need for healthcare providers (baby boomers are now needing more health care intervention). Nurse practitioners are now becoming more prominent especially in bigger cities. I was wondering if any of the samba members see a nurse practitioner for their check ups or in your local emergency rooms.

I am almost finished with my Masters and Nurse Practitioner and plan on either working with a physician or working in my ER in more of an "urgent care" setting.

Wondering if you all have had good/bad experiences or even know that this is happening.

John
the wife and i take our kids to one,i believe we have a good one and is far better then the doctor we had before.
for the ear,nose and throat stuff obviously its fine.
anything serious you would need a speacialist anyway.
besides,the wife is a RN and she keeps up with all that.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:34 pm

Icy wrote: Is a nurse-practitioner the same as a Physician's Assistant? They had PA's when I was in the military. Personally, so long as the person is competent in treatment I don't care if the credentials are MD, PA, NP, etc.

I don't think they're like PA's. I think a NP can write a script for meds.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:08 pm

Lidpainter wrote: Icy wrote: Is a nurse-practitioner the same as a Physician's Assistant? They had PA's when I was in the military. Personally, so long as the person is competent in treatment I don't care if the credentials are MD, PA, NP, etc.

I don't think they're like PA's. I think a NP can write a script for meds.

The PA wrote me a script. I don't think doctors should be writing prescriptions anyway. That's what a Pharmacist is for. The Pharmacist knows more about the medicine and what will interact with it than the doctor ever will. Plus, I've had to have medicines mixed on the spot, which a good old school Pharmacist can do.