[NPInfo] My Thoughts........

[Carla Anderson]

Exactly Stephanie. It is not about being a nurse, that is another twist that is wrong. We are proud to be nurses, it is the perception that is happening about who we are and what we do, and you are right regarding the same points Dave and Jeff made, that MD or doctor, is still completely treated differently.  As I stated before, in my town, I am expected to give information, write rxs, treat people for free as the "nurse" so they dont have to use their deductible , or tide them over until they see a "real doctor"...and it is wrong. When your own friends and neighbors do that, it is taking advantage. I do not treat people in any other profession that way. If I go up to a financial advisor who works in the same building as I, I say, up front, what are your fees per minute/hour, as I would like to ask you a question.  I am trying to start a get a practice going, and running here, and I cannot do it for free, and I worked too many years in school to do it for free. Yes, as a
 nurse I am a patient advocate, and would love to have a fund for the poor, but I am the poor right now, and first before I can help others, I have to survive myself, and we all need to be cohesive, about this, again.  It does not matter whether someone is seeing 18 patients a day, or married, or has a second income, we still need to be cohesive about our profession, and what we do.  I cant say anymore about it. I hope we do all feel this way across the country as this would be a great purpose for this list serve to achieve since we have access to communicating with each other. 

Stephanie Walker <stephanie2u at optonline.net> wrote:  I don't agree with the idea that we have to for some reason avoid 
talking about what the doctors are saying.

We have to rebut what they are saying. So we have to be able to take 
each outrageous statement apart (taking apart = analyzing) to a 
friend or family member (or MD co-workers) and show the illogic. Just 
blowing our own trumpets trying to drown out the AMA and its state 
medical societies is not going to help. And Jeff and Dave have 
analyzed their pronouncements in very articulate ways. Instead of 
ignoring the MDs, we have to bring their agendas out into the light 
of day.

I agree with Dave, that most people automatically believe what 
doctors tell them. It's those two magic letters "MD." Most people 
don't want to think that doctors are greedy. It's rare to hear that 
from people even these days when the MD's image is somewhat tarnished.

Yes, we are nurses, and I am proud to be a nurse, too. But it is not 
helpful for us, when the term "nurse" is used interchangeably for 
"nurse practitioner" and we let it slide. That is one of the AMA's 
strategies, to muddy the water by using the term "nurse" in talking 
about the retail clinics, making it look like nurses are all of a 
sudden taking on a new role. They are trying to influence public 
perception by implying that the "nurses" are taking on 
responsibilities beyond the real scope of their training--moving from 
bedpan pushing to seeing patients all by themselves. The "nurses" are 
taking this great big giant step without the bosses (the public 
always thinks the doctors are the nurses' bosses) saying they could.

If we let people keep calling us "nurses" instead of using our 
correct occupational title, why should anyone be surprised that the 
general public thinks NPs have to follow doctors' orders?

Stephanie Walker, FNP


On Sep 3, 2007, at 2:05 PM, mmhelgert46 at comcast.net wrote:

> I've been watching the listserv and feel compelled to jump 
> in .....I feel...in order to get above this fray...we need to stop 
> focusing on physicians,what they think, do and write and 
> say......we have our own voices...we need to meet with legislators, 
> reporters, write articles and get our voices out there...anyone can 
> have an opinion including the AMA etc. and mostly that's all it 
> is..opinion. We have data to support NPs and PAs, we have a track 
> record...we have 30+ years in the business...plenty of time to 
> focus on where we need to be going...and it isn't down this road of 
> rehashing the AMA and Retail Health Clinic AMA opinions....we can 
> set our own record straight here.
>
> Meg FNP
> Portland Oregon
> _______________________________________________
> NPInfo mailing list
> NPInfo at nurse.net
> http://lists.nurse.net/mailman/listinfo/npinfo
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Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
  Healing Presence Family Practice, PC  
  carla_rayne at yahoo.com
  503 819 9726