There are many types of healthcare practitioners involved in medicine today, and each one has a valuable role to play. Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants are two types of non-physician practitioners (NPPs). If you believe your medical care has been mismanaged by a non-physician practitioner (NPP), please use our Patient Resources to file appropriate reports. In addition, please share your story with us.
One major problem with reports regarding NPP “quality of care” is that near-misses aren’t routinely recorded or tracked. For instance, if there is a missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis by a NPP that is identified and corrected by a physician, that’s a near-miss–a mistake that could have led to patient harm if it hadn’t been caught. The NPP gets “credit” for providing quality care to the patient, and nobody ever knows that there could have been harm if a physician hadn’t been involved.
We believe that there is no substitute for the rigorous, in-depth training of a physician when it comes to the care of you and your loved ones. We need to educate legislators and colleagues on the importance of real-time supervision of NPPs so that every patient can have a physician as the head of their care team. If you submit your story, we will not disclose your name, and we will make sure that your concerns are heard.
Thank you for sharing your story.