I
think that being cared for in the hospital by a nurse practitioner
instead of a doctor is unacceptable. The breath of depth of training
between physicians and nurse practitioners are immense.
A
board-certified Family Physician will have up to 1700 more lecture
hours, 1500 more study hours and 10,000 more residency hours than a
nurse practitioner. Advance clinical care constitutes only 33% of the
curriculum for nurse practitioners.
Family
physicians complete training for complex differential diagnoses and
medical treatments. A nurse practitioner is trained to recognize and
treat common conditions.
You
know what you are getting with a board-certified Family Practice
doctor since they must complete an accredited training program and
pass a standardized exam to become board-certified. The requirements
are the same in all 50s states.
A
nurse practitioner must complete a training program that varies from
state to state without any nationwide standardization. Only 38 states
require them to hold a masters degree and those states grandfathered
in those who called themselves nurse practitioners prior to 2008
whether or not a Masters degree was ever completed.
Physicians
are taught by other physicians to learn what is needed to provide
quality care to a hospitalized patient. Nurse practitioners or taught
by nurses to attempt to learn what is needed to provide quality care
to hospitalized patients.
That
is like having a flight attendant train another flight attendant to
act as a pilot. I am sure they are intelligent, hard-working and kind
but I don't want them to fly my plane and I don't want a nurse
practitioner taking care of me in the hospital.
