Why nurse practitioners and physicians assitants aren’t the same as medical doctors.

Medical practice is not simply caring for simple, common problems.

There has been a strong and largely successful push by advanced practice nurse practitioners (NPs) and physicians assistant (PAs) to practice autonomously as primary care providers. The Florida legislature recently granted advance practice nurse practitioners license to practice independently https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2020-03-11/florida-oks-independent-practice-for-nurse-practitioners. That term, “provider”, has replaced the original, which was “physician”. NPs and PAs have now been elevated from their original designation as mid-level providers of care to acknowledge their more limited education and clinical experience, while primary care physicians have been demoted so that they are now lumped in with mid-levels as “providers.” Many patients do not know the difference and commonly refer to NPs and PAs as their “doctor”.