Has anyone noticed this?

[FactsofLife]

Hi, I sometimes peruse the Studentdoctor forums. It seems that their attitudes toward NPs/PAs have gotten much much worse. It was bad before, but it was the NPs that were really getting targeted. As far as PA-Cs, it was less. It is as if both NPs and PAs are the plague. Has anyone noticed this change? And again, I am aware that it was bad before. I don't go there as often now. It is disgusting.

[BruceBanner]

I used to go there years ago as a pre-med. There wasn't much love for 'midlevels' then either. But what do you expect, it's a forum for neurotic wannabe docs with an assortment of personality disorders.

[cbrsmurf]

Part of the issue is that we are competing with new physicians for many jobs.  As new professionals, it's not unexpected to have some animosity towards a profession that may compete with your future job prospects.  More established physicians, especially ones that employ PA/NPs, tend to have a more favorable opinion, especially when we are padding their pockets.

[Febrifuge]

I last visited SDN probably more than 5 years ago. It was useful at that time when I was anxious about my career change, nervous my applications wouldn't be good enough, and it's worth mentioning that at the time, I was also on the fence about MD vs DO vs PA. Obviously, I went PA in the end, and I've been glad I did ever since, but it was finding this place - via SDN - that helped me most of all, probably because I was able to give up on going to SDN.

 

I try to be understanding; like was said above, it's a place full of young people who are making big choices and dealing with a lot of uncertainty. I think a certain level of bitchiness is probably inevitable, and like all online communities, there is a gestalt that emerges, and a lot of people try to strengthen their feeling of connection with the community by parroting the attitude or argument they feel sums it up. That tends to be an insular, antagonistic one, which is a shame, but it makes sense too.

 

To us, the statement "there are more people practicing medicine than just the MDs" is a pretty neutral one. It's a fact; it's not controversial. To the SDN crowd, it's probably enough to trigger a 12-page thread full of the most outlandish name-calling and drama.

 

I think of pre-meds, brand-new MD students, and I suppose some of the newer residents, as kind of like NCAA athletes. They have people around them who don't know much about their day to day life telling them how great they are; they have mentors and role models telling them all the ways in which they have to do better, and work harder, and how bad it will be if they don't measure up. It seems like developing a thicker skin and daily coping skills often goes hand-in-hand with believing the hype about how superior they are to "randoms" or "basics." They quickly develop this idea that nobody can possibly understand who isn't part of their tribe, and people like us - who do a job that's related and in some ways even exactly the same as the one they are striving toward - are outsiders, even adversaries.

 

That quickly reveals itself to be a toxic and unhelpful attitude, once a good MD student works with some good PA students on rotations, or when a new MD matches to a residency that is reasonably healthy and professional. I truly think the vast majority of SDN posters go on to be great docs. They probably never give SDN a second thought, and those that do might cringe a little to look over their old posts.

 

Long story short, SDN doesn't represent anything except for itself, and it's often a roiling pit of anxiety and hostility, a lot of which is turned outward just so the poor bastards can try to avoid destroying themselves and each other. It's stupid and sad, but understandable.