By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    health benefits of taking a vacation to reduce stress
    Relaxing European Destinations to Reduce Stress Risks to Health
    October 11, 2021
    pain management tips
    Managing Pain Differently: Alternative Pain Management Techniques
    January 12, 2022
    5 Ways to Promote Wellness in Your Home
    April 12, 2022
    Latest News
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    July 31, 2025
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Hospital Training Using Virtual World and Avatars
    May 20, 2011
    Health Wonk Review: Mud Season Edition
    March 16, 2014
    Video: ICD-10 National Provider Call
    October 24, 2011
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Are Physician Extenders Up to the Task?
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Medical Education > Are Physician Extenders Up to the Task?
BusinessMedical EducationPublic Health

Are Physician Extenders Up to the Task?

Steven Feldman
Steven Feldman
Share
6 Min Read
Image
SHARE

Image

The Affordable Care Act is predicted to result in a tremendous, rapid increase in the demand for primary care services.  Who will meet this demand?  The job may fall to physician extenders.  There’s considerable controversy as to whether they are up to the task.

Image

The Affordable Care Act is predicted to result in a tremendous, rapid increase in the demand for primary care services.  Who will meet this demand?  The job may fall to physician extenders.  There’s considerable controversy as to whether they are up to the task.

More Read

Image
High Quality, Low Cost Video Interview Series: Dr Seth Feuerstein Talks Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Coordinating Care by Reporting What Didn’t Happen
Expansion of Primary Care and Relationships Leads to Fewer ER Visits
The Challenges of Treating Homeless Patients
Economic Stress Linked to Poor Brain Development in Children

Writing here on the HealthWorks Collected (http://healthworkscollective.com/rdowney14/33378/nurse-practitioners-can-take-some-pressure-doctor-shortage), Roger Downey writes about his and his family’s wonderful experiences being cared for by a nurse practitioner.  He also notes that, “Doctors are often hard to convince that NPs can and should play a more significant role in primary care.”

Some doctors feel very strongly that patients with illnesses should see a doctor, not a physician extender.   Are these doctors only concerned about their own turf and pocketbooks?  No, doctors who feel strongly that patients should see a doctor do so not because they are concerned about their livelihoods (though it is easy to think that’s the reason they feel this way) but because they are concerned about patient welfare.  These doctors don’t think patients should have to see a lesser-quality health care provider.

Physician extenders, often under the supervision of a physician, give patients great medical care.  So why do physicians who have never worked with a physician extender think that physician extenders offer lesser quality care?  It may be because doctors who haven’t worked with a physician assistant or nurse practitioner will have seen only their failures, never their successes.

Imagine a town with two doctors, Doctor X who works alone and Doctor Y who works with a nurse practitioner.  Probably 98% of Doctor Y’s patients and Doctor Y’s nurse practitioner’s patients are happy and well cared for.  Perhaps 1 or 2% aren’t happy or have a bad outcome.  Of the hundreds or thousands of patients that Doctor Y and the nurse practitioner care for, how many go to see Doctor X?  Not any of the 98% who are happy and have good treatment outcomes.  Only the tiny fraction who were unhappy or who didn’t have a good result would.  Based on Doctor X’s experience, though, it might seem like all of the nurse practitioner’s patients where unhappy or had bad outcomes.

I like to think of the world in terms of compartments.  When people are divided into different groups, different compartments, misunderstanding and conflict easily develop.  Often there are things about people in other compartments about which we just don’t know, perhaps how they are trained or how they think in general.  As illustrated above, we often see a biased sample of things from another compartment.  This happens to me, a dermatologist, all the time.  Out of the thousands of patients I’ve seen with rashes referred to me by a family physician, I think I can count on one hand the number of times the family physician got the diagnosis right, prescribed the right medicine and cleared the patient’s rash.  Some dermatologists might think family doctors don’t know what they are doing with regard to the treatment of skin disease.  I’ve come to realize that every time a family physician gets the diagnosis right, prescribes the right medicine and clears the patient’s rash, they don’t send the patient to a dermatologist.  I try not to draw judgments about family doctors based on the patients of theirs that I have seen, just as I hope surgeons would be circumspect about drawing judgments about dermatologists based on their experiences of the patients on whom we dermatologists have done surgery.

Our compartmentalized medical system makes it easy to misjudge other people.  Needless conflicts develop between specialties because it is so easy to see that we care, but so hard sometimes to see that other people care, too.  Physicians, drug companies, insurers and other health care stakeholders all tend to blame the other groups for the limitations of our health care system, yet people in all these groups and organizations probably sleep well at night knowing that they are trying to help ill people get well.

 Image

Feldman is author of Compartments: How the Brightest, Best Trained, and Most Caring People Can Make Judgments That are Completely and Utterly Wrong (www.compartmentsbook.com and available at Amazon.com and BN.com).

TAGGED:physician extenders
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
Health
July 31, 2025
holistic dental
Holistic Dentist Services Are Natural and Safe
Dental health Specialties
July 28, 2025
botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025
Telemedicine Apps
Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
Health
July 20, 2025

You Might also Like

patient engagement
BusinessHealth ReformPublic Health

Patient Engagement: Blockbuster Drug Or Snake Oil?

August 28, 2013
chief customer officer
Business

Chief Customer Officers: Fancy New Title or Path to Meaningful Change?

April 15, 2014
Image
Public HealthSocial Media

Aetna Payment Estimator Video Is a Winner

May 27, 2013
healthcare delivery in America
BusinessHealth ReformPolicy & LawPublic HealthSpecialties

The Paradox in American Healthcare

May 7, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?