- Joined
- Aug 14, 2014
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Can't believe I'm doing this, but here goes. I preface this by saying I don't want to start any sort of flame war, but perhaps that makes no difference.
I'm a substantially older, nontrad M1--a divorced mom, and have been dating someone new for a few months. We're generally really good to each other. It's only been a few months, but at our age, I think it's reasonable to know in a few months what sort of relationship is worth working on. Here's the problem: she has a lot less formal education than I do. Her ex (domestic partnership before same sex marriage, homeownership together) was an NP. The NP ex is highly respected in our community and is a bit older than us, so the NP ex was experienced and well-established before they met. She still has lots of love and admiration for her ex, and that's fine by me.
BUT, this has led, in my view, to her having a distorted take on what it means to be an NP, what it means to be a physician, what training is like, why you might want to see a physician rather than an NP for certain problems, and so on. She's gone so far as to say that doctors only want to be doctors because they're egomaniacs and that she basically doesn't want to see a doctor for anything etc. Needless to say, it's pretty hurtful to me with the challenge I am taking on right now. I'd have no problem with saying, "Hey, that bit about egomaniacs was hurtful to me, I understand that you still love [ex] and she's a special person, but that remark wasn't fair to me or the many wonderful and giving physicians I have known." What I want to know, though, is how to approach educating her about the general difference between the professions in a way that isn't hostile, disrespectful, etc., and most importantly, that is persuasive. We're old enough that some serious health issue isn't wildly unlikely, and I'd hate for her to have something like that missed because she resisted seeing a physician.
I'm a substantially older, nontrad M1--a divorced mom, and have been dating someone new for a few months. We're generally really good to each other. It's only been a few months, but at our age, I think it's reasonable to know in a few months what sort of relationship is worth working on. Here's the problem: she has a lot less formal education than I do. Her ex (domestic partnership before same sex marriage, homeownership together) was an NP. The NP ex is highly respected in our community and is a bit older than us, so the NP ex was experienced and well-established before they met. She still has lots of love and admiration for her ex, and that's fine by me.
BUT, this has led, in my view, to her having a distorted take on what it means to be an NP, what it means to be a physician, what training is like, why you might want to see a physician rather than an NP for certain problems, and so on. She's gone so far as to say that doctors only want to be doctors because they're egomaniacs and that she basically doesn't want to see a doctor for anything etc. Needless to say, it's pretty hurtful to me with the challenge I am taking on right now. I'd have no problem with saying, "Hey, that bit about egomaniacs was hurtful to me, I understand that you still love [ex] and she's a special person, but that remark wasn't fair to me or the many wonderful and giving physicians I have known." What I want to know, though, is how to approach educating her about the general difference between the professions in a way that isn't hostile, disrespectful, etc., and most importantly, that is persuasive. We're old enough that some serious health issue isn't wildly unlikely, and I'd hate for her to have something like that missed because she resisted seeing a physician.
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