re: Defeat the Nurse Practitioner scope of practice expansion - Louisiana SB 187

I want an MD who provides patient services as opposed to an MD who serves more as a supervising manager of NPs and PAs.

I tend to receive the latter far more often, but my medical needs are very routine in nature.

On top of that, this bullshite of my insurance being charged $100 to see an NP for 10 minutes is some serious gouging.

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I want an MD who provides patient services as opposed to an MD who serves more as a supervising manager of NPs and PAs.

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Well, passing this law virtually ensures that this is what you will get more and more. OR you're only option will be an NP and you'll still get charged $100.

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Just fyi, lots of NP programs are online programs. Thats right, ONLINE PROGRAMS.

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Some, but not all. Those that are, it's not 100% online.

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And they dont do residencies.

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This is incorrect, many programs have residency and fellowships.

So NP is the LGBT of the medical profession?

I am voting for it because of this thread

I'd rather see a NP than a doc in the office, Doc in ER.
NPs give a crap

No I read it all

But you never mentioned why you put yourself through this torture money power control or you love people.

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So the blind leading the blind.

On the other hand it is an admission by the field that the degree is not enough. Should be mandatory at a minimum for any NP that wants to practice independently.

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I don't understand why they aren't developing bridge programs. For example, Dentists can complete two years of medical school and a residency to become a DDS, MD that specializes in oral surgery.

Recognize that you have a population of providers that already have a substantial amount of education, and allow them to then further and refine their training in such a way that it doesn't require that they start school completely over again and incur massive amounts of debt.

Something I found interesting is a conversation my brother recently had with an Ophthalmologist in the clinic he is rotating through as he finishes up his Optometry program. Essentially the Ophthalmologist feels that his Optometrists are better equipped to recognize and treat most eye diseases, and really only handles major surgical procedures in his clinic that Optometrists currently cannot be licensed for.

Optometrists are trained from day one of school to provide that level of care, while Ophthalmologists receive general medical training and pick up everything else on the fly through resident training. Therefore their training is not as focused with the exception of surgical techniques. This doctor is of the standpoint that Optometrists already have a leg up in training, and are more than capable to complete a residency to allow them to complete surgeries.

So, to satisfy the "must be an MD crowd" why not have a bridge program? A lot of people go the Optometry or PA route as a Plan B for medical school. Plenty of smart and capable people didn't keep their grades up in college, or for one reason or another simply didn't meet the whole package to get accepted. There is a wasted opportunity to not utilize a population that has already proven themselves in the field. To simply tell them they should have gone the traditional medical school route if they wanted to be a doctor is ignorant. Furthermore, simply limiting their scope of practice without providing solutions is incredibly short sited.

This whole conversation is just typical 2000's America. A bunch of patients who think they know medicine are whining because they want their prescriptions NOW. They know as much about medicine by going to the doctor's office and using Google as I know about warfare by playing Call of Duty.

There are also a bunch of underqualified nurses and optometrists complaining because they want a shortcut to more money and prestige. There's a reason medical training is so long... because there's an incredible amount of information to absorb and because pattern recognition is paramount. It takes thousands and thousands of hours to even become somewhat competent at practicing safe and effective medicine.

Well, if the current down-spiraling pattern continues Americans are going to get exactly what they deserve, lower quality medicine that is delivered less efficiently and at no lower a cost. We will keep vilifying the "rich" and "lazy" doctors. We will reward shortcuts and keep slashing physician pay. We will ignore the fact that physician satisfaction is consistently below 50% across ALL specialties because it's patient satisfaction that matters most, after all.

The funny thing is that doctors will be fine. They will always make good money. They will always have quality healthcare because they know all the quality doctors. Doctors also look out for one another. It's the patients who will suffer. Doctors see it coming, but nobody is listening. Eventually doctors will just wash their hands of all of it. Health care is a right! Hurray for universal health care!

No one in this thread is saying healthcare is a right; we're saying the ability to decide for yourself the quality and cost of healthcare you receive is a right, for better or worse. If anything, those falling on the pro side of this argument are staunchly opposed on a fundamental level to universal healthcare.