brand logo

Fam Pract Manag. 2012;19(2):8

The article “The State of Family Medicine” [January/February 2012] contained interesting information, including a quote by Robert Phillips Jr., MD, MSPH, who stated that the value of family medicine is diminished as its scope of practice shrinks.

I would argue that the biggest reason family medicine is undervalued is the proliferation of nurse practitioners. On the one hand, we as a group of family medicine doctors are touting our unique qualifications to provide high-quality, comprehensive health care. On the other hand, we are telling our patients that seeing the nurse practitioner is an acceptable (and implicitly an equivalent) option.

It is no wonder that patients view these physician extenders as equivalent to doctors and often mistakenly refer to them as doctors, especially those who do business in their own facilities without a doctor on site. As Walt Kelly famously stated through his creation Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Send your comments to fpmedit@aafp.org. Submission of a letter will be construed as granting AAFP permission to publish the letter in any of its publications in any form. We cannot respond to all letters we receive. Those chosen for publication will be edited for length and style.

Continue Reading


More in FPM

More in PubMed

Copyright © 2012 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.  See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.