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« Digby's Dad | Main | Beating Old Age in the UK »

May 22, 2008 |Permalink |Comments (1)

Pathetic

The following quotes were pulled from a mass e-mail that goes out to primary care doctors. There are no attributions and (I hope!) these statements were just made up by some marketing person...

Drug Reps - To See or Not To See "Unlike some doctors, I actually like seeing pharmaceutical reps in my office. After all, they do leave free samples for my patients, occasionally take me out to lunch, and may be the last group to show us some respect."

Testosterone - The New Wonder Drug?
"I read in Medscape Family News than low testosterone levels are linked with a higher risk of depression in older men. There are many limitations in the study, but their bottom line seems to be that having a low "free" testosterone level is associated with the higher risk, not the total testosterone. So does this mean that a free testosterone should be part of our depression screening in the senior citizen set?"

Mid-Levels Playing Doctor
"Is it my imagination or is the line between mid-levels and physicians in office based practice becoming non-existent? FNPs can practice without a doctor on-site as long as one is available to back them up and sign their charts. In my community, some list themselves with physicians in the yellow pages under Family Medicine…have we lost our turf for good, or can we get it back?"

The last group to show us some respect?
The senior citizen set?
Have we lost our turf for good, or can we get it back?

This is just amazingly inept, stupid and misguided.

Comments ( 1)

As a physician who works closely with NPs, and a regular speaker at NPACE conferences, I can attest to their competence and value. I can also report that the term "mid-level" is snobbish and insulting to them.
I wonder how we internists, GPs and family physicians would feel if specialists called us "mid-levels", because we have fewer years of post-grad training than they do?
I really don't get the "turf" issue. When I was in private practice, I had more patients than I could handle. We had a PA who saw many patients and some of them began regular follow-ups with him, because they saw him first and felt comfortable with him. More power to him!
If docs are losing business in this climate of high need, perhaps they should look at their own style of practice and how well they relate to their patients.
We have a shortage of primary care in this country and new graduates are "specializing" us into deeper deficits. NPs can serve a crucial role in getting primary care to people who need it.
Medicine is changing, not only in technology, but in public health and socio-economic dimensions. We can continue to cling to some 1950s notion of care, or we can move forward as collaborators for the benefit of all Americans.

Al Power, MD

Posted by Al Power
May 22, 2008 9:58 AM

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