There's a difference between posting a controversial opinion and trolling. The TOS explains this pretty clearly. Obviously, we have nothing against controversial opinions around here, as this thread proves.
If you hadn't claimed to be trolling in the first place (twice), I don't think your posts would've even raised an eyebrow. They were pretty tame, IMO. However, trolling causes significant disruptions to the SDN community, and is dealt with harshly. It's not something you want to joke about.
As for other people calling you a troll, I've found this usually doesn't happen if you don't act like one.
Bored was I also...and never plan to set foot in another hospital...except to visit. Why don't you investigate what I'm doing...training as a shaman? Now think before you think I'm fricken nuts! Our sessions have been full of nurses (probably bored) and physicians, psychologists and other healthcare providers. Last summer I was teamed up with an MD/Ph.D (cell biology) who said he and many of his peers were sick and tired of not really being able to help people. Last month, I teamed up with a vascular surgeon. Both these guys were in their 50s so had been in practice a few years. There were other docs present but these were the only ones I actually had a chance to work with. There was also a physics professor there but I only got to speak to her briefly. She did say that she was going to be doing some presentations on how shamanism and physics interact...and possibly a book.
Now I can respect anyone who wants to devour biochem or any of the natural sciences but jeez....also study how the mind affects the body. Once you know this, you...if like me...will almost puke when you glance at a medical textbook!
Just think...you'll really be an independant practitioner and most of your patients/clients will have already seen a physician.
Now, where's my damn rattle and smudge stick
Am I bored...are you kidding?
u just dissed the Paramedics and Respiratory Therapists....
Keep lurking in the Military thread... the level of demoralization there makes me look like Dale Carnegie
I'm sitting here on call trying to entertain myself here on SDN. This thread seems to have gotten way off topic much like all other threads on SDN. My take on FPs: They are great for what they do. I work with them and am mostly pleased with their work.
Now, as far as physicians being overeducated (who needs Chem, micro, etc), that's just rediculous. The poster surely couldn't be serious. I think that really shows the difference between physicians and "midlevels". Medicine is a science. Much of what we practice based on these principles.
I was a nurse for 6 years before going to medical school. I remember taking my prerecs thinking that much of it was a waste of time. Well, the prerecs are just a preview of what you get in medical school. In medical school you start out learning anatomy, molecular/cellular biology, genetics, micro, etc. You then broaden that into learning the body systems and how these "basic" sciences pertain to them. By the end of your second year of medical school you know how to treat a disease and the reason the treatment works down to the MOLECULAR level. It is just mindblowing how much information you learn in those 2 years. (and how quickly you have to learn it. We covered almost a full college semester of biochem in just 4 days of medical school) Then you go on the wards and learn how to apply the information that has been given to you. Then you go on to residency for 3-8+ years hone in the skills for your specialty. Is this the equivalent of an NP program where you write countless papers on Nursing theory? Riiiiiight.
Physicians are taught to think in scientific terms. I remember having a NP student rotating with us on wards when I was in medical school. She couldn't participate in our discussions about the patients in any meaningful way because she had no idea what we were talking about. (all of that unnecessary science and whatnot
As far as the FPs: Sure lots of them refer but they know WAY more than you seem to understand. Being a physician, you treat mostly "bread and butter" cases: UTIs, Colds, etc. But the physician is paid to catch the zebras which many times if caught early means the difference between a treatable disease and a terminal disease. How can you catch zebras if you have no idea what they are, how they present, the variations on a presentation, the natural progression of the disease, the available treatments, the prognosis, etc?
Well, you guys have fun debating on if "midlevels" are equipt to function as physicians. From being a nurse and having lots of friends in the NP programs (I know the cirriculum quite well) I can honestly say you have no idea how much you just do not understand about medicine. If you would like to be an independant provider perhaps you should look into going to medical school so you can have the proper knowledge base. That's exactly what I did and I can't tell you how happy I am that I went back. At our medical school in just about every other class there is either a PA or NP who decided to go to medical school for a proper education. I've even met a few CRNAs who went back for the MD. If you've got the time and the intelligence to make it I would strongly suggest doing it. It will be the best decision of your life!!!!!!!!
Burntcrispy, MD
Great idea considering I getting paid to go to this one...and the year-long program is almost over.
I would entertain the idea that there are many better programs out there but when I take the ATI tests cold and score in the top 95th percentile nationally, it doesn't seem like there is much point. Plus how do you go about finding a nursing problem that has sufficient depth? Ask the teachers? Students? How would you possibly get an honest, accurate answer?
It seems like some of the programs I've looked into attempt to counter the superficial glossing-over of material by giving a ridiculous amount of paperwork [careplans by hand instead of using Ackley online] or wording questions in a bizarre manner that is a radical depature from normal syntax.
Or maybe I'm just being a negative Nancy because I'm annoyed with OB.
But seriously, thank you for serving your time.
Too late, I'm Navy HPSP. Active duty starts in 29 days and counting . . .
And for the record, I'm pretty stoked about it. Hence my tongue-in-cheek comment about negative posters from the milmed forum.
Protocols won't change the fact that the ones in the know will do the best. Competency-based decision making will always trump the otherwise uninitiated...
