3+ yrs out (1st experience w/ WLS-prejudice NP)

The second NP I saw (on Thrusday in the actual main doctor's clinic) was actually quite wonderful - VERY thorough.

I have no problem seeing an NP (although I will never go to the local walk-in clinic one again).  I agree with the other poster though - I shouldn't have to pay the same to see an NP as I would my DR. 

Completely agree with u on that point! You should never have to pay the same rate if your not seeing the Dr.!!!

Congrats for standing up for yourself.  I'm not sure how I would have delt with this.

Sorry if I offended anyone with my post. It's just that a NP nearly killed my mother. My mother was gasping for breath and the NP told her she had a cold. My mother had blood clots in her lungs!!! They could have killed her. I made her go to the ER where she was properly diagnosed and given life-saving medications. I am no dr, nor a nurse..only a medical secretary, but even I could tell it was not a cold. Also, another NP told me my son had constipation after looking at his x-ray....he actually had pneumonia! So forgive me if I distrust them. It is a personal preference of mine to not see a NP. But I am also aware no doctor is perfect either, it's just that if I am paying to see a "doctor", I want to see a doctor.

Oh, and I never advised anyone to do anything. I just stated my personal opinion.

 Same here, and, btw, I am fully familiar with the qualifications for each of the mentioned healthcare  occupations, at last here in TX (to one of the previous posters) ..  I did not mean to imply that all NPs are not qualified to do what they do, but a couple of very bad examples regarding my own family doc's NP (whom, incidentally, he loften leaves in charge of his clinic while he is out for the day) might explain why I'm a bit jaded on the matter:

  1. As a pre-op, my doc allowed his NP to take my pre-op EKG and interpret it.  No idea why this was done, as my doc is board-certified himself in ER Medicine.   After waiting and waiting in the exam room for them to come back with my results, I finally peeked out and saw the NP standing at the counter with my strip while looking through a book next to it, apparently a "how to read an EKG"- type instruction book.  She seemed to be waffling somewhat over what she was reading and seeing, and I saw her whisper a few times to other staff members and heard her talking aloud to herself, obviously unsure of what to make of my strip.    She finally came back to the exam room and announced that I had at some time suffered a "silent" heart attack in the past.  I was stunned, shocked, upset, and almost called off my surgery over her results.   However, when I got to Brazil I had a cardiologist perform his own EKG on me, and he had no hesitation in clearing me for surgery, saying he doubted that I had really suffered a previous h.a.

  2.  As a post-op, I was having major calcium and Vit. D. absorption problems, despite taking my supplements recommended by my surgeon.   Looking at my low Vit. D levels after a round of blood  test, this same NP told me that, no matter how much Vit. D. supplementation I took in the form of pills, my body would not be able to actually utilize any of that supplementation w/o at least 15 minutes of exposure of my skin to natural sunlight a day.   I took what she said as true, and sat out in the sun by my condo with no shirt on (not a pretty sight with all the loose skin I had at the time) for several days afterward.  I then learned from a nutritionist that this claim was poppy****  The nutrionist pointed out  to me that, if what my doc's NP said was true, there would be MANY patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and other shut-ins who would be suffering major Vit. D. deficiency problems.   

   There was also another bad experience with this same NP in which she mis-prescribed a change in one of my blood pressure meds   After I had gone to my doc about it before taking the change in dosage, he supposedly reprimanded her over the goof, as it could have been very dangerous. 

   This NP is a very intelligent lady, I would point out, and had been an RN for like 20 years.   I'm sure she would have made a great doc if she had gone to medical school, but she didn't and I think my doc puts a little too much faith in her abilities merely b/c of the "NP" credentialing.