NPs get stuck in an infinite loop

Do you hear that noise? It's the AANP clamoring to trick the general public into thinking that patients seen by midlevel nurse practitioners have higher satisfaction and fewer unnecessary emergency room visits. Well, guess what? I'd be pretty goddamn unsatisfied if I went to the emergency department, only saw a clueless nurse practitioner who prescribes some permutation of Tylenol/a Z-Pak/steroids for nearly everything, went back to a primary care nurse practitioner, only to be told to "go back to [the] ED". What the fuck? Thankfully, the patient described here was finally seen by a physician. Imagine how much time and money could be saved if the patient had just seen a competent physician in the first place! (Especially given the often-high cost of an emergency department visit these days.)

As we've emphasized time and time again here at MidlevelWTF, always demand to see a physician. Make sure your primary care provider is a physician. Make sure that the medical or surgical specialists you see are physicians. And make sure that when you go to the emergency department, you see a physician!