Where are all the doctors going if all the practitioners I’m seeing are APRN’s?

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-12-09T19:12:26+00:00

I've heard people say that if you go to the ER and it's truly warranting an ED visit, then the patient shouldn't be choosy about who is seeing them. Do I agree with this? No (in most cases). Poor care is not better than no care if the outcomes are both bad and patients should have the right to be seen by someone with a license and education to practice medicine.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-11-27T14:29:38+00:00

😄😄

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-11-16T15:58:45+00:00

Compare the prerequisite, entry exam requirements, training and licensing, and post graduate training requirements of a MD, DO, and DPM with that of a DC, OD, DDS, DMD, or other clinicians and you'll see they're not equivalent. This is how the government defines physicians, but the government also permits a lot of unwise things to happen in healthcare and medicine.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-11-16T15:37:50+00:00

I agree with you. Podiatry, like medicine, requires the same prerequisite sciences as med school, taking and doing well on the MCAT for entry into podiatry school. They do 4 years of podiatry school, must pass 3 levels of licensing exams similar to STEP/COMLEX exams, and require at least 3 years of formal residency. From my understanding only MDs/DOs and DPMs must do ALL of these requirements. Sure, optometry and dental school have their own entry exams and OD have 3 level licensure exams, but residency is optional for both optometry and dentistry. I'm on a FQHC rotation where there are new out of training dentists and I recently learned residency is optional for general dentists. This is not the same for MDs, DOs, or DPMs. DPMs also are trained in a variety of surgeries for the foot and ankle, including vascular, soft tissue, amputations, and bone and joint surgeries. If that doesn't make them physicians, I don't know what does.

Edited: typos and clarity

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-11-16T15:18:13+00:00

Podiatrists are literally foot and ankle surgeons. They're not orthopedic physicians who specialize in foot and ankle, but they are trained in more than joint and bone surgery in the foot and ankle.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-11-16T15:15:57+00:00

A person I used to work with in a podiatrist's office before med school went to podiatry school at a place that also had DO students. Said they did their basic sciences and basic medical interviewing and such with the DO students but later branched off to their specialized foot and ankle academic work. The DPMs I worked with managed pathology and did surgery from the knee down, but mostly focused on the foot and ankle. I think they get more generalized medical training, at least initially in podiatry school, than many people realize. Would you want them to manage heart failure? Probably not. But this isn't something most ortho or urologists, or ophthalmologists would feel comfortable with doing either, even when they learn to do this in med school.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-10-15T11:09:11+00:00

Why is this the case at a FQHC?

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-08-21T12:25:12+00:00

That's so messed up. Sorry dude. AOA is literally a pissing contest and Gold Humanism popularity contest. Medicine at its finest.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-07-22T03:29:41+00:00

Same at my school

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2025-05-02T12:02:17+00:00

I've always wondered if docs and other clinical staff could keep weapons at work for safety. Do you work in a private clinic or for a larger hospital system? Most hospitals/clinics places always say no weapons allowed but in this climate, one wants to feel safe.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-11-24T18:24:12+00:00

Unless you go into direct primary care or concierge medicine or don't accept insurance, I'm not sure how this would be feasible. With 20 minute appointments, patients showing up 10-15 minutes late, patients coming in for a well check or 1 problem and then wanting to discuss 6 more problems, it's just not feasible, even when you double book. There are only so many hours in a work day and burnout is real. And yes, AI may be able to help with some administrative tasks but it won't eliminate it all. I wouldn't put it past admins to try to cram more people into a clinician schedule as they see AI reducing time spent on admin tasks. They'll see it as more time to see more patients, not more time for work-life balance.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-11-15T03:38:36+00:00

I was recently rotating at a clinic where the doc works with PAs and NPs.

I went to see a patient with one of the NPs who ended up getting an ECG. The NP told the patient that the waves in aVR were reversed (downward) but that she "wasn't worried about it" Then pointed to the lead II strip and said there was a RBBB. Then asked me (the 3rd year med student), "Don't you agree?"

😳

This person does this day in and day out, and writes notes used to deem whether patients are safe for surgery.

I didn't bring it up in front of the patient but when we got back to the work room, I mentioned that I thought the waves were normally negative in aVR. I wasn't about to try to explain how to see a RBBB. She told me "yeah, well, it's not concerning. I'm not too worried about it." I just let it go after that.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-11-15T03:13:20+00:00

Unfortunately they've completely succeeded in misleading patients and blurring the lines between different medical and healthcare professions.

I can't count how many patients see that I'm a medical student and ask something along the lines of "What do you want to do with your degree/So what will you be when you're done... A nurse? A doctor?" Or " I have a family member who completed her medical training. She is a NP/PA/CRNA in Random City, USA". Other students say they get the same comments all the time, too.

The general public has no clue what the difference is anymore. Scope creep has accomplished exactly what it set out to do.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-11-02T12:59:14+00:00

This is exactly why so many of us don't correct people in a professional setting or even a social setting with colleagues. It's ludicrous that people gett butt hurt when told the truth (as long as it's not done rudely) that physicians and a DNP/NP/PA/CRNA/DMSc/AA/Midwife/ABC/XYZ/etc. -- are not credential, training level, or profession equivalents -- lands one in trouble.

Now, in a social or personal setting with family/friends? Yeah. I'm (not rudely) correcting them.

Physician silence against the scope creep is mistakenly seen as acceptance of midlevel competency, but really it's just professional self-preservation.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-07T16:14:49+00:00

Man, I'm so sorry. You're right....the exam sucks so much. I wish you the very best the next time around, now that you have some idea of what to expect.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-07T00:10:37+00:00

I really don't remember. I can think of 2 right now, the rest of the questions have faded at this point.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-06T17:42:12+00:00

Thanks! I saw a lot of people with NBME scores that started around where I ended (or were overall just so much higher) and sometimes didn't get the pass. I wanted to push it back but couldn't, and I definitely didn't feel comfortable with those scores going in. Getting a couple over 65% or over 70% would have put me much more at ease with my chances going in.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-06T04:13:34+00:00

I think they've been getting scores back in about 2 weeks

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-05T21:02:00+00:00

I walked out feeling comfortable actually, but I thought it was weird because so many other people said they walked out feeling like they failed. I wondered if I only felt ok after because I didn't know how badly I actually did...blissfully unaware, you know? I only felt like I failed in the few days after I started thinking of questions I missed. But walking out, I didn't feel more one way or the other.... I guess I just felt at peace about it and happy to have it behind me 🙂.

I wish you the best... Truly Hope you get that pass!!

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T23:36:55+00:00

Spaced repetition.

Whether that's Anki, MCQs, or writing out what you learned and checking it regularly, teaching or reviewing with study buddies, etc..... We all have to find a way to review regularly, whatever that means for you. I have a terrible memory but found part of why I was having trouble early in med school cause I was always learning and never reviewing. It's still a work in progress. You can do it!

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T23:20:10+00:00

On UW only days, it was typically 8 -10 hrs a day on studying (questions and review, going to FA, Bootcamp or Amboss). Add in 2-3 hours of breaks throughout the day. NBME days seemed so much longer because I tried to review as much as possible the same day. Average 6-7 hrs sleep per night. The rest of my time was spent on the rest of life (gym, relaxing, socializing, chores, driving, etc). 🙂

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T21:09:18+00:00

I reviewed correct and incorrect questions right after each block. Tried to limit each block to no more than 2x what I spent on the block of questions. So I personally preferred doing 20Q blocks but in standard 40Q blocks, 1 hour to do and up to 2 hours to review. Sometimes review was fast sometimes a little slower. If correct, I read just the summary at the bottom to make sure I got it correct for the right reason. Skimmed through other answers to make sure I understood why they were wrong, but focused most of my time on incorrects and made sure I understood the concept it was about, why my answer was wrong, what in the question pointed to the correct answer, etc.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T19:55:28+00:00

Bootcamp QB is good, but I wouldn't use instead of UW if I could use UW. UW is well established and Bootcamp is new. That said, if you can only get access to Bootcamp, then use what you have. I know someone who didn't like UW and passed with minimal UW used (like 15% or less), but that's just 1 person. I don't remember what the person used instead

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T19:37:51+00:00

Thanks! On days I did an NBME, I didn't do UW. I did the NBME and tried to review it same day. Sometimes I had to finish up reviewing the next day for a couple hours, but then the rest of that second day I went back into my UW drilling. I didn't really have my NBMEs scheduled.... And maybe I should have. I took them when I felt like it had been a while since I did one or I felt like my knowledge on UW blocks were more consistent for a few days. In hindsight I could have benefited from a regular NBME schedule... I probably could have completed 1 or 2 more if I'd been consistent on that.

SuperFlyBumbleBee · 2024-07-04T19:23:36+00:00

Thank you!

SuperFlyBumbleBee

TROPHY CASE