Not "just" anything...

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012, nurse practitioners.  We have another year to educate the public and our colleagues regarding nurse practitioners’ roles in the medical field. I realize I am a nurse and always will be.  That makes me happy, I don’t claim to be anything other than.  I do, however, get a little miffed when I am not acknowledged as a provider because there is “nurse” in my title. 

How often are other professionals asked if this is the best they are going to do with their career?  “So, when are you going to become a doctor?  You only want to be a nurse?  It can’t be that much more to go back to school.”  Is that supposed to be some sort of motivating speech to make me think about doing better with my life?  Thank you for bringing to my attention how unhappy I should be with myself at this moment.

It is also frustrating when other professionals in your field offer positions that you have gone to school to move up from.  There is nothing wrong with being an RN.  I went to school to become one.  I was one for many years and I could not be an NP without that.  I do, however resent the fact that I should be happy working as one after having completed my training to be a provider now.  RNs are great, but they do not have the same rights and responsibilities for which I have completed my training. 

I am a provider.  I am not “just” anything.  I want the position for which I applied, not something that you need to fill and think that I might be okay with.  If other professionals in my field don’t get it then how can I hold it against the regular public to understand why I am here?  My background is a nurse, now I am here as a provider to treat and manage medical conditions.