LELTs of the World, Unite!

[CAAdmission]

Normally I try to be fairly "live and let live," but the egomanical jerks at this blog:

 

http://authenticmedicine.com/

 

are just too over the top. In particular, the owner likes to refer to every non-physician in the healthcare area as a "LELT" (less educated, less trained). Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but this place attracts malignant personalities like flies on poop.

 

If you find his attitude troubling, i encourage you all to comment on his blog. No account is required and it does not require a working email address. He will not allow comments from "militant LELTs" through, well reasoned or otherwise (right now, I am pretty much limited to otherwise to fill up his moderation queue.

[ventana]

my post

 

 

As a long time PA and a practice owner is it down right insulting to hear that only a DOCTOR can be a your Doctor

 

PT, SLP, OT, Pharm, NP have all moved to a clinical doctorate model - and yet there are some physicians that insist on your old attitude which is outdated, inaccurate and un-helping to the patient.  

 

As every single one of my patients and my referral sources will attest to - I practice medicine, manage my patients as well as any other provider out there, and am helping the community live a little healthier.  

 

My practice is a geriatric house call practice and not a single doc wants to do this because the reimbursement make it far to hard to make a living (at the 150k mark that doc's require)   

 

If it were not for my starting and maintaining this practice these home bound seniors would most likely not access care. 

 

Please tell me how you bias and viewpoint actually helps these patients?  Do I need to be a doc to care for them?  

 

I would put my pathophys, pharma, micro knowledge up against any GP from even a few years ago, and honestly the USMLE 1 level of detail is no longer required to practice effective sound primary care.  What is needed is 'feet on the ground' with highly trained primary care providers to care for our citizens.  

 

NP/PAs are going to take over (we already are) the bulk of primary care.  And this is a good thing.  In working in a team approach with a Doc as part of the team, we all can provide care and services to our community. 

 

You comments are short sighted, and fear based, fortunately most of your profession now realizes that PA/NP are a help to care delivery.  

 

And BTW there is not a single physician, NP, or PA that practices 'alone' or 'autonomously '     we are all part of a team and we all referrer to people who know more (ie the specialists)

 

 

 

 

As a parting thought - I still have a huge respect for the doc's that earn it - but I have seen far to many doc's (usually older nearing retirement) that just don't give a darn anymore.  These are the one's I have seen writing ongoing chronic narcs and benzo's at extreme levels, who truly are just collecting a paycheck.  It sickens me to think that some patients prefer to go to someone with an MD or DO after their name, who is clearly only interested in completing his/her career, then a caring "advanced practice" clinician that actually reads, stays up to date, and cares about doing the right thing.

 

 

I suspect you will jut delete this post as you really have no desire in having an open discourse about this topic as your bias is that you need to put others down, and close the conversation (deleting posts) as you realize you are simple off base..... so delete away if it makes you feel better.

[CAAdmission]

Very well said, Ventana. I did not see this appear on his blog, so it did not persist long. I did see another post - also very well written, articulate and non-hostile - by a fellow named Steven from MN. It was up for about 20 minutes. 

 

I guess Dr. Farrago's definition of "militant" is any PA who would dare to disagree with a physician. I know a lot of old-timers that would share his viewpoint. Sad to see it has tricked down into his generation too. 

[parnemt]

He deletes anything he doesn't like. Don't waste your time with this fool or give him any traffic on his site.

[LKPAC]

Great post, I fully agree.  I do hope that the spelling errors were corrected as you were explaining how we PAs are not "less." :-)

 

BTW, guys like this never bother me.  I'd be willing to bet he drives a fancy car, too.  No doubt he is over-compensating for other shortcomings!

[CAAdmission]

He deletes anything he doesn't like. Don't waste your time with this fool or give him any traffic on his site.

 

I don't know, I have kind of enjoyed posting to his site. Since we started posting he has had to turn moderation on, forcing him to screen every single post. He has also started blocking IP addresses (which does not work well if you are posting from a phone over cellular). If you really want to confuse him, post under the name of one of the "regulars" on the site. 

 

I am delighted that he will have to waste some time - even if only a few minutes a day - to deal with this stuff. 

[rcdavis]

Why does it offend everyone when this doctor suggests, that, to be a physician, you should be a doctor.

 

Note that he does NOT Say that you have to be a doctor to practice medicine... He understands that.

 

He does not denigrate PA,NP.. Who ARE less educated and less trained than MD/DOs. But still have a well earned place in the medical world. He does not negate the good work and role we play.. He merely ascerts that there IS a difference between physicians and ( everyone else). They ARE better trained and better educated.

 

Wouldn't we be climbing vigorously up onto this bus if the paramedics started calling themselves PAs? Huh???

 

Sometimes, a little humility goes a long way.

 

Physician means teacher.. But certainly not all teachers are physicians.. We are those...non-physician teachers...

 

This guy practices family medicine and makes sarcasm and pointed articles an artform...

 

I would respectfully suggest that if we take offense to being labeled less educated, less trained.. Then we need to change our education model and be trained.. As physicians. Otherwise, we should grow a little thicker skin, and broader sense of humor.

 

With respect.

[eddoc]

Actually, doctor means teacher from the latin verb "docere" to teach. Physician was first used in about the 13th century and is probably French derived from physique meaning things related to nature.

[CAAdmission]

Sometimes, a little humility goes a long way.

 

Indeed. Try posting that sentiment there and see how far it gets you. 

 

I like to take care of sick people. I have no desire to be a physician. From the premedical days right on through to the end they cultivate a bad personality. If you read through the posts on his blog, it soon becomes apparent that they share a common belief: physicians are the hardest working, smartest people to ever live. One of them even describes themself as our "better."

 

The pinnacle of hypocrisy on the site is the clown who hates specialists. If more training and more education are the best possible situation, how can this be? The self-serving implication is that PAs are generally to dumb for a lot of stuff, specialists are overtrained, and FP docs are somehow just right for everyone.

 

But what really burns me is that he deletes well-reasoned posts that he is too dumb to refute. And he is watching this thread. You can give it but you can't take it Dr. Farrago.

[Acebecker]

There are a boat load of doctors out there who are far worse medical providers than PAs, and vice versa.  The quality of care you provide often is not dictated by the level of training that you have received.  There are moron OBs out there whose patients would be better served by having a caring, thorough, and properly intentioned certified-nurse-midwife deliver their babies.  There are bad internists who refuse to learn from their mistakes, and guys like me who can do nothing but learn from their mistakes.  There are also PAs and NPs and CNMs out there who should never be allowed to touch a human being, let alone prescribe medications or perform procedures on one; same with some docs. 

 

It is not about your level of training.  It just isn't.  It's about who you are and what you want your interactions with your patients to be. 

[CAAdmission]

It is not about your level of training.  It just isn't.  It's about who you are and what you want your interactions with your patients to be. 

 

Amen!

 

The other curious thing is that if experience is king, why are graduate physicians getting so much less? Resident hours have been cut drastically over the last decade or so, but the length of their residency time has not been extended at all.