This twenty-eight-year-old woman is a radiology resident who recently met up with some friends at a bar.
One of her friends, Jason, also brought his new girlfriend named Alice along. But, while getting to know each other, Alice apparently misrepresented her profession to the woman.
It all began when the group started catching up over drinks. At one point, Jason asked the woman to retell a work story she had shared with him earlier that week, and the woman obliged.
But then, halfway through her story, Alice interrupted her and excitedly shared that they were colleagues.
“She said she could relate to my story so much being a doctor herself, and I thought great. It’s cool to meet new people who can relate to the hardships of medicine,” the woman recalled.
However, after the woman asked Alice if she was a resident or attending, she just said she was a dermatologist.
And being that Alice is a bit older than the woman, she just assumed Alice meant dermatology attending.
It later came out that Alice is not a physician at all, though. Instead, she is a nurse practitioner (NP) who works at a dermatologist’s office.
To be clear, the woman also has nothing against NPs. But, she recognizes that even though NPs can work independently without direct physician supervision in some states, that still does not make it a “good idea.”
dianagrytsku – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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The woman even cited limited knowledge resulting in mistakes and lower quality of care as prime reasons.
Nonetheless, she did not say any of that to Alice outright. Instead, she simply tried to clarify Alice’s true profession.
“Then you are a dermatology NP, not an attending dermatologist,” the woman responded.
But, Alice got utterly offended by the statement. She became very defensive over her profession and said that NPs could do anything doctors do– sometimes even better.
And the woman did not dispute her abilities or knowledge, either. But, she did tell Alice that misrepresenting your true medical title can be misleading– especially for patients who do not know the difference.
Nonetheless, Alice was not hearing any of it. She even called the woman an elitist before storming out of the bar.
Then, the next day, Jason called the woman and asked her to apologize to Alice. Still, though, the woman feels that her statements were not out of line whatsoever.
“I have nothing against NPs, but calling yourself a physician and claiming you have the exact same knowledge, if not more, is incredibly misleading,” the woman reasoned.
So do you think it was right for the woman to call out Alice? Is it ever okay to call yourself a doctor if you are not a physician?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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