I see nothing wrong with initially seeing a nurse practitioner at a clinic for most health concerns.
If your health issue isn't so serious or complicated, they'll take care of you. If it's serious and/or complicated, you'll get referred to a doctor or some kind of specialist. Doctors, dentists, even mechanics use this same system, don't they?
Maybe I've just been lucky but I see an awesome nurse practitioner at an Urgent Care clinic in Holly Springs, NC.
She's about 1000% better than the douchey and argmentative doctor I first saw who, when I complained of nasal problems, said (as I'd suspected) that it was either an allergy, some kind of sinus infection or a combination of the two but that he thought it was a better idea to start taking allergy medicine for an indefinite period of time vs. taking an anti-biotic for a short period of time. This made no sense to me and I had to argue strenuously with this guy that taking the anti-biotic for a short period of time (to eliminate the possibility that a sinus infection was all or part of the problem) made way more sense than starting some indefinite course of taking allergy meds. (It's possible that this dick was just trying to get more doctor visits out of me -- which makes me even more mad than him just being a retard.) I was pissed that I had to put my foot down to get my way with this douche who seemed offended that I'd question his opinion at all and never returned to that POS again. (And, predictably, my sinus issues went away after just using the anti-biotic.)
When I first saw her, my nurse practitioner diagnosed me as probably having sleep apnea after just doing a cursory examination of my throat ("say ah") when I'd come in for an abdominal pain that turned out to just be a muscle strain. (Found out I have severe sleep apnea after doing a sleep study and now use a V-PAP machine that has ridiculously improved the quality of my life.) She's also great about going along with my wishes (with the absolute minimum of sermonizing) regarding periodic blood tests of the sort that many getbiggers would be wise to have done. (Her rationale when I expressed surprise at how easy she was to work with was, "You're going to do it anyway, aren't you?")
It IS possible that my nurse practitioner, Jessica S. is better than most. She seems to have a lot of training.
Here's who I'm talking about:
http://www.fastmed.com/services/family-practice/fastmed-family-practice-holly-springsJessica Sabrowsky RN, MSN, FNP-BC
FastMed Urgent Care of Holly Springs
Jessica is a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner at the Holly Springs FastMed Urgent Care location. She has practiced as a nurse in various roles, including adult and pediatric intensive care and cardiac care units, emergency and urgent care settings, and surgical unit settings. She has also has spent time working with patients in sleep medicine, primarily focusing on follow-up care of those on CPAP and Bi-level devices. Jessica enjoys spending time and focusing on preventative care and managing acute and chronic health conditions.
Jessica received her degree in nursing from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN in 2003. In 2010, she completed her masters degree in MSN with a specialty as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She is also certified in BLS, ACLS, and PALS. Jessica has even written an article titled "Spotlight on Prevention: Venous Thromboembolism" that was published in the November/December 2010 Volume 8, Number 6 issue of Nursing made Incredibly Easy!
