"Elite" NPs get butthurt about Pennsylvania Medical Society's promotion of physician-led care

Last month, the Pennsylvania Medical Society launched a patient awareness initiative and website called How White Coats Work, intended to educate patients and the general public about the critically important distinctions between physicians and midlevel providers such as nurse practitioners (NP), physician assistants (PA), and nurse anesthetists (CRNA), as well as the fact that "wearing a white coat doesn’t always mean the person in it is a physician."

Sadly, some "elite" nurse practitioners on Facebook got really, really butthurt about the outlandish idea that patients should have the right to know who is on their health care team and whether or not a physician is involved in their care.

The Profit Motive

At least a couple of midlevel NPs seemed to think that physicians are only in it for the money, especially if they wear white coats. Evidently, Ms. Ashley Lewis' ego is as medically fragile and developmentally delayed as the children she purports to treat. And for the record, Ashley, we actually do feel safer that you pay money to a supervising physician who takes time out of their busy schedule to review a handful of your charts. Too bad they aren't able to review all of them!

No white coats here!

Some NPs chose to take the more literal approach of not wearing white coats as well. Good for them, we say! If only all midlevels could follow in their noble footsteps so that patients could return to the days of being able to reliably equate white coats with physicians. Nowadays, trying to avoid midlevels as a patient is akin to playing Minesweeper, especially when you have "Doctors" of Nursing Practice running around in white coats while wearing "Doctor" name tags that make them indistinguishable from actual doctors, i.e., physicians.

I’m a doctor, the badge says so!

Why waste years of your life in medical school when you can just get a badge that says “Doctor”?

Midlevel.WTFMidlevelWTF

The irony of education

Strangely, one NP by the name of Erin Goss was of the opinion that the person who loved the post needed some education. However, as we all know, the clinical education and training of a nurse practitioner is laughably incomparable to that of a physician.

Even more ironic is the fact that NP Goss obtained her NP from the diploma mill esteemed institution known as Walden University, which is rapidly developing a reputation as a high-powered academic research institution /s.

“Doctor” of Nursing Practice: the laughingstock of academia and medicine

Whether you’re a physician or a well-informed patient, now you know what kind of idiot you’re dealing with when you hear a DNP nurse practitioner proudly proclaim that they’re a “doctor” or “doctorally prepared”.

Midlevel.WTFMidlevelWTF

Out of sight, out of mind

One NP decided to keep things simple by hiding the Facebook posts altogether. An effective, but admittedly toddler-like approach. Speaking of toddlers, we wonder if the average nurse practitioner understands the concept of object permanence, i.e. that things still exist even when you can't see or hear them. Based on their shit-tier understanding of medicine, one truly has to wonder. On that note, why hasn't a "Doctor" of Nursing Practice submitted a "doctoral study" on this yet? Be right back...we're going to go pitch this as a research proposal to the renowned faculty at Walden University.

The skinny part of the bottom line

Of course, no article on The Elite Nurse Practitioner Group would be complete without at least some mention of weight loss and the drug semaglutide (brand names Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus), which a large proportion of these "elite" NPs are obsessed with as a way to pad their profit margins by prescribing it and similar drugs to patients through fly-by-night "med spas" and "wellness clinics".

NP and Walden graduate Susan Lynn Testerman, who seems to think that physicians have no idea how to appropriately prescribe GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Ozempic/semaglutide, owns Eden Aesthetics & Wellness, a med spa in Kansas City, MO that charges patients $650 for a vial of semaglutide. Do you hear that sound? It's the chorus of "elite" NPs who still think that physicians are just in it for the money.

In any case, the joke's on Susan because it's crystal-clear that the same bunch of "elite" NPs are completely fucking clueless when it comes to safely and appropriately prescribing semaglutide.

And there you have it. A bunch of midlevel nurse practitioners, butthurt in all the wrong ways about the unfathomable idea of physician-led, physician-involved care. We can't think of any legitimate reason why any sane healthcare professional would be against the idea of advocating for every patient's right to know who's on their healthcare team and if that person wearing the white coat is actually a physician. The only thing "elite" about these NPs is their egos!