re: How do you feel about Nurse Practitioners?

If you're just there to get a prescription refilled, or need some meds or a steroid shot....a PA or NP is all you need

IF you're there for a follow up after surgery, a PA or NP is all you need

If you're there to have brain surgery or a sex change you might want a actual neurosurgeon or plastic surgeon.

I know quite a few NP’s and my wife is one.My opinion is that RN’s that work for 10-20 years before becoming an NP are ,in many cases ,very good.In fact I know several that are better than the average FP Dr.or Internist and I would much rather see them.

On the other hand I worked in ICU 35 years and I had some co-workers that were not good nurses and they went on to become NP’s.No way would I want to see them for anything.

Then there are RN’s that work one year after graduating nursing school then become NP’s.I wouldn’t have much faith in them until they have quite a few years experience.

I have some anecdotal stories of dumb NP’s,I have a family member that is Bi-polar.She is very smart and has done very well in a demanding profession because she stays on her meds.She saw a NP that did thyroid lab work on her,and put her on thyroid medicine.
She went totally off the rails quickly and it took couple of months to get her straight.I researched it extensively,only an Endocrinologist or a Psychatrist should ever try to treat a bi-polar for thyroid issues.Not a FP or an Internist,certainly not an NP.My feelings are she should have known that.
(Turns out she didn’t even need thyroid medicine)
Another NP I know with her doctorate was appalled,that I took ivermectin when I got Covid.”You took dog medicine”. She actually did not know there were any human uses for ivermectin.She was fascinated to learn it was used for scabies,head lice and rosacea in the US.She did not know it was used in Africa for prevention of river blindness or lymphatic filariasis(elephantiasis).
Somehow I think she should have known this,with a Doctorate.(I also asked a Dr.his opinion on ivermectin,his reply was it was good for dogs and horses).I suspect he knew better,he was just following the narrative.

As far as NP’s being Independent Practitioners,my wife doesn’t want to be one.She is exceptional in the cardiac area,diagnosing,ordering and regulating cardiac and bp meds,She’s fairly competent in internal medicine area.Infections,she generally looks up appropriate antibiotics and dosages.
Diabetics,she doesn’t want to try and treat them-they go to a Dr.
In other words,she know what she knows and what she doesn’t know.

To be honest though,there are some really stupid Drs.Some of the stories she comes home with are mind-boggling.
Ex-she saw one pt.that came in that was feeling really bad and thought he might have heart problems.He had been(according to him)to two E.R.s and 2 Drs. and they couldn’t find anything wrong with him.She did lab work,white count on his CBC was off the charts.Got him in with a Oncologist next morning,he had leukemia,Dr.called her and told him the man would have been dead in 2 weeks if she hadn’t caught it.
I’ve got good many more stories,don’t want to type out a book.

The medical world is a scary place regardless whether one is seeing a NP or a Dr.
I truly believe the Harvard study-medical errors 3’rd leading cause of death.