[NPInfo] My Reply........To Shelby and others

[Carla Anderson]

Meg, 
   
  I agree, lets take Chiropractors. I do not know whether they worry or even think about MDs at the top of the food chain.  But they have made a consistent niche for themselves, in the health of the spine, and sports medicine, nutrition, and health promotion. They are successful because there is a large segment of the population who believes that Chiropractors share their view of health or how to help them get and stay healthy, and therefore become regular patrons of their service.  Our names of our professions may or may not make it more difficult for us, and it is true that having MD after your name does sort of pave the beginning of the road. But after that you are on your own  I will always remember when I worked in the ER, and I met this medical student who was older than the rest. He was very shy. I will never forget what he told me. He said that he used to be a nurse, but was not assertive enough in his personality, so he went to med school.  It is like the emperors
 clothes. But then after that it is up to us. So we have to get beyond the name issue, and get into the identity issue. We are all individuals. So maybe instead of going about it as a group of PAs or a group of NPs we should just go about forging our path, one person at a time while at the same time maintaining our identity as a cohesive profession.   I know plenty of patients that see a provider because they like that provider, not because of their initials after their name. I also know MDs that were smart, and tried to have their own practices and failed. So I cannot speak for others, but I am going to continue  to follow my dream, of developing my own practice where I can care for patients the way I feel they should be cared for, and that is what I am going to persevere at. It feels right when I go into my little office, there is a peace about it. No politics, no stress, and yes, not very many patients yet, but there will be. And fine tune that niche, as Meg said. We all
 need more education in how to do that, whether it is book learned or street smarts, we need to get it.Whatever it takes, study someone that is doing well, ask them how they did it, model after, get a mentor. Funny I got a copy of the ANA/California newspaper today in my Oregon mailbox, and it was on the front page how "Superintendent O'Connell Sells out Nurses in California"...the article spoke how the US District Courts chose to ignore the California Medical Act and the Nurse Practice Act by now, instead of having the mandatory number of one (yes only one) RN per entire school district, NOW they can train someone on the school campus without any nursing experience to provide and administer medication to all the children! So now there can be zero nurses per entire district!  But what is really sad is the commentary following. We might as well just change the date every 20 yrs, it is still the same refrain. The only nurse that ever made history apparently is Florence
 Nightengale, because they are still quoting her book "Notes on Nursing" written in 1859 no less!  In fact the article which is written by the President of the ANA/California chapter is talking about Florence's vision of solidarity and does it exist in the US today.  It is encouraging nurses to join ANA. Only 5% of the nations nurses apparently belong to the ANA.   We have heard this a million times!  We must move beyond Florence! And we need to if we do not wish to see nursing and other boards and scopes of practice hard fought for dismantled.   I do agree, with the concept, there is a lack of passion and distraction, and in addition to our individual pursuits, we do need to coalesce and become active in local, state and federal roles to refine our professionalism. I do believe that to be true. That we need to get involved, and make continued changes for the better, getting educated and educating others.But we can start small.  I am sure most of us are doing this at least
 in a small way. Every time we educate our friends, or our co workers, or patients, or our community about issues that are important to us, we are getting involved. So get a niche, and a passion, and then to get a louder voice and mature as a profession (it will take discipline)  we need to join our local and national organizations and vote for critical issues. I am speaking about myself too, to get back to the basic outline and to do list, just to take baby steps and set goals, and we will get better at it. Gee did not mean to lecture, but I do think this is what it will take. Carla 

mmhelgert46 at comcast.net wrote:
  OK.....we need to have this dialogue ....Physician Assistants must have a physician at arms length( either by phone or in the building) So says the Board of Medicine in each and every state ....I don't see any other way around this one....NP's in various states need a variety of similar settings called preceptors, physician consultants...and other combinations of these types of practices. Some states are very independent...such as Oregon (my state)

My question will always be...what are we doing that makes us different, unique and stand apart ?...what's the niche we fill? and what we are doing about making this happen. It still makes little difference if physicians are "at the top of the food chain"...this is not my concern...my concern is what are we doing to set ourselves apart from this? this is the task that faces us right now...this point in history when health care is in shambles...it is a perfect opportunity to make it happen for all of us.......not continue discussing physicians.......what makes us different then they are?...if we can't even figure this out...we're doomed. The dialogue cannot continue along the lines of "we are cheaper"...that's old and it doesn't quite describe us....money should never be in the description........

This is the part...where it gets really tough...'cuz I'm describing a professional...and that brings up the DNP program and that whole issue..........which is the future......and this is where we take our rightful place shoulder to shoulder with all other professionals....such as lawyers, physicians, CPA...to name a few......we set the standards, describe educationally what we need, we provide the statements that the public must see...and this must happen so we don't go the way of the dinosaurs...Meg

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Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
  Healing Presence Family Practice, PC  
  carla_rayne at yahoo.com
  503 819 9726