“Stop Calling Us Mid-Levels,” Cry the NPs

Nursing is an honorable profession, neither superior nor inferior to medicine, but distinct from it. I learned this from nurses! Then last night I saw a commercial on TV for “Nurse Practitioners,” who are: …leading the charge and growing the nation’s access to patient-centered, accessible, high-quality health care. They’ve also got a chip on their collective shoulder over the term “Mid-level” provider. Can’t call them “Physician extenders” or “non-physicians” either. Fine. I’ll just call them “arrogant doctor-wannabes”. I was just being polite with the “mid-level” thing anyway. Apparently their issue with the term “Mid-level” is the implication that the “mid” means “middling,” or somehow less than “high”, and that it refers to either the quality of their care, or their education, or whatever. I’m not really sure; it seems like such a stretch, trying desperately to find offense where none was ever intended. It’s as silly as if I were to get all bent out of shape about “Primary” care being somehow inferior to “Tertiary” care, as provided in large downtown institutions, because “Tertiary” means “three”, which is more than “one”, which is “Primary.” At issue is what kind of care is provided to what kind of patients for what kind of problems. First ai...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs